neighbour-likeneighbor-likeadv.adj.
/ˈneɪbəlʌɪk/, U.S. /ˈneɪbərˌlaɪk/, Scottish English /ˈnibərlʌik/, Irish English /ˈneːbərlaɪk/ Now chiefly Scottish and Irish English (northern).
A. adv.
In a neighbourly fashion; as befits a neighbour. Now also (Scottish and Irish English (northern)): in emulation of one's neighbours; so as not to be outdone by one's neighbours. Sc. National Dict. (1965) records the sense in use in the south of Scotland in 1964.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > social intercourse or companionship > [adverb] > in a neighbourly fashion
neighbour-like1448
neighbourly1525
1448–9 in W. C. Dickinson Early Rec. Burgh Aberdeen (1957) p. cxi That al maner of man..sal make fraght hamwartis in the schippes to be frachtit to this burgh nyghborlike.
1499 in J. Stuart & G. Burnett Exchequer Rolls Scotl. (1888) XI. 395 Ane sufficient tenant and nychtbour..abill to keip the said steid nychtbourlike.
1575 G. Gascoigne Fruites of Warre cxxxvii, in Posies sig. Iviii Three dayes wee fought, as long as water serued, And came to ancor neyghbourlike yfeere.
1831 Perthshire Advertiser 16 June The members..just took their share neebor like.
1875 R. Browning Aristophanes' Apol. 175 Drop knave's-tricks, deal more neighbour-like, ye boors!
1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 195 Neighbour-like, like one's neighbours.
B. adj.
1. Neighbourly, friendly, kindly. Now chiefly Scottish.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > social intercourse or companionship > [adjective] > neighbourly
neighbourc1480
neighbourly1558
good neighbourly1598
neighbour-like1602
good neighbour1933
1602 2nd Pt. Returne fr. Parnassus iii. iii. 1290 A dunce I see is a neighbourlike brute beast, a man may liue by him.
1674 W. Lloyd Difference Church & Court of Rome 6 The Neighbour-like Terms of the old Regulæ Patrum.
a1713 A. Pitcairne Assembly (1722) iii. iii. 54 If we were quit of one Man, I think we were ev'n Neighbour-like.
1766 A. Nicol Poems Several Subj. 131 But if I had things neighbour-like, I with a kind of airy fyke, Would brag them ane and a'.
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering III. v. 85 He'll be glad to carry me through, and be neighbour-like.
1868 C. Lofft Ernest (ed. 2) ii. 31 Our ghostly guide..first fairly, by kind words Friend-like and neighbour-like, hinting his wish.
1912 J. Nicolson Hame-spun 91 I saw 'at I needed a wife, an' it wouldna been very neebor like for me to pass by her door.
2. Scottish and Irish English (northern). Emulating one's neighbours; striving not to be outdone by one's neighbours. Sc. National Dict. (1965) records the sense in use in the south of Scotland in 1964.
ΚΠ
1723 Present State Scotl. 8 There is hardly a Gentleman who has an Estate of Two hundred a-year, but, in order to be Neighbourlike, will drink claret.
1790 D. Morison Poems 157 To gar our bed look hale and neighbour-like.
1831 Fife Herald 22 Sept. Mrs A...has to get up parties equally splendid for the sake of being ‘neighbour-like’.
1900 Shetland News 27 Oct. 8/3 Doo canna gang 'ithoot bein' a kind o' daecent an' neeber laek.
1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. at Neighbour Neighbour-like, like your neighbours, doing the same as they do.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.adj.1448