nichen.adj.
/niːʃ/, /nɪtʃ/, U.S. /nɪtʃ/, /niʃ/ A. n.
1. † b. A recess in the face of a dial. Obsolete. rare.
a. A shallow ornamental recess or hollow set into a wall, usually for the purpose of containing a statue or other decorative object.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > other elements > [noun] > niche
cant1604
niche1610
nesset1614
nest1640
aedicula1672
retreat1687
retirement1726
kiblah1775
alcove1786
inset1829
aedicule1832
niche work1848
niche ornament1851
niche-band1867
tabernacle-niche1886
1610 S. Daniel Tethys Festival sig. F2 The Neeces wherein the Ladies sate, were foure, with Pillasters of gold, mingled with rustick stones shewing like a minerall to make it more rocke, and Cauern-like.
1616 B. Jonson Speeches at Prince Henries Barriers 57 in Wks. I There Porticos were built,..The Nieces fill'd with statues.
1624 H. Wotton Elements Archit. 103 That the Nices, if they containe Figures of white Stone or Marble, bee not coloured in their Concauitie too blacke.
1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) Pref. sig. āiiv Who can speak of Statues, but he must speak of Niches?
1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 40. 259 You have the blessed Virgin and a Child sitting in a Nitch.
1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. II. 190 The niches still remaining shew, that this temple formerly contained the statues of the gods.
1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. vii. 64 Just over the grave, in a niche of the wall, is a bust of Shakespeare.
1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 3 A tall niche in the wall, holding a processional cross.
1950 D. Welch Voice through Cloud i. 9 Under the portico there were niches for statues.
1990 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Aug. 877/1 The parlours have the look of catacombs, the fireplaces flanked by columbaria, fragments of Roman tombs, and cinerary urns displayed on plinths and in niches.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > part(s) of > dial or markings on dial
tablea1400
dial1440
watch1588
punctilio1596
dial platea1652
recliner1652
dial piece1658
face1659
horary circle1664
night dial1670
horizontal dial1674
hour-stroke1674
hour-plate1690
clock face1764
niche1822
1822 J. Imison Elem. Sci. & Art I. 96 The small hand B, in the nich at top goes round once in a minute.
2.
a. A small, vaulted recess or chamber made in the thickness of a wall or (occasionally) in the ground; an alcove.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > [noun] > a receding part
bay1582
recess1651
niche1662
shoulder1669
retirement1726
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 184 A certain number of Neeches Vaulted, in which there were rich beds.
1695 P. Motteux tr. F. Pidou de St. Olon Present State Morocco 20 Some Wicker Conveniencies cover'd with Linnen-Cloth, and contriv'd like Niches or Arches.
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea I. xxxiii. 224 Beds were taken out of nitches made in the wall for that purpose.
1822 Ld. Byron Werner iii. i It leads through winding walls..And hollow cells, and obscure niches, to I know not whither.
1879 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Palestine xx. 440 A third chamber had three connecting vaults, each with three raised niches for the dead.
1931 A. Uttley Country Child xii. 162 Susan climbed on the leather-seated chairs and drew the folded shutters out of their niches in the depths of the walls.
1987 Woman & Home July 37 I have chosen a table for two in a niche.
b. A natural recess in a rock, hill, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hollow or depression > [noun] > on or among hills
saddleOE
swirec1050
pocket1745
lap1747
rock basin1754
niche1756
sliddera1793
corrie1795
cove1805
slot1808
bay1853
punchbowl1855
1756 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. I. 23 In a niche in the mountain of Zurl, which also from its perpendicular steepness is called St. Martin's wall.
1805 W. Clark Jrnl. 10 Nov. in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1990) VI. 39 We were compelled to return about 2 miles to a place we could unload our Canoes,..a small nitch at the mouth of a Small run.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. vi. 54 We were fortunate enough to get out a whale-line to the rocks and warp into a protecting niche.
1865 W. G. Palgrave Narr. Journey through Arabia I. 153 We scramble up to a sort of niche near its summit.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. v. 81 When we look at..sea-anemones nestling like chrysanthemums in the niches of the rocks, we are at once struck by a peculiarity of symmetry as compared with most other animals.
1957 Z. Grey Stranger from Tonto (1964) vi. 70 He espied a niche up in the rocks that could be utilized for a cache.
c. = mihrab n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > symbol (general) > non-Christian symbols or images > [noun] > prayer-rug motif
mihrab1868
niche1911
1911 G. G. Lewis Pract. Bk. Oriental Rugs x. 121 Niche or Mihrab.., the name applied to the pointed design at one end of a prayer rug.
1972 P. L. Phillips tr. F. Formenton Oriental Rugs & Carpets 93 The mihrab, the niche in the centre of the rug, is often separated by two columns.
3. The hole, lair, etc., of an animal. More generally: a place of retreat or refuge.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habitat > habitat > [noun] > dwelling place or shelter
houseOE
denOE
holdc1275
lying-placea1382
coucha1398
homea1398
logis1477
starting-hole1530
cabbage1567
lodge1567
lair1575
lay1590
squat1590
hover1602
denning1622
start-holea1641
bed1694
niche1725
shed1821
lying1834
basking-hole1856
lie1869
homesite1882
holt1890
lying-ground1895
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Spiders The way to destroy the Niches of Spiders in our Gardens.
1753 Philos. Trans. 1751–2 (Royal Soc.) 47 108 When the animal returns into its nich, the proboscis sinks into itself.
1845 C. Dickens Chimes i. 10 Coming out..to warm himself by exercise..he would brighten..and go back more brightly to his niche.
1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 12 Where the leaf-stalk forms a safe niche between it and the main stem.
1863 T. Woolner My Beautiful Lady 20 I told of gourmand thrushes, which To feast on morsels oozy rich, Cracked poor snails' curling niche.
1924 H. Crane Let. 29 Jan. (1965) 172 I, personally and alone, occupy the nicest niche I ever sat in—15 stories up.
1965 ‘W. Trevor’ Boarding-house xix. 213 There was a niche for him here: he had his own place, his own chair.
1994 Outlook Sept. 31/1 Well here I am—snug as a bug—back in my own little niche again.
4. figurative.
a. A place or position suited to or intended for the character, capabilities, status, etc., of a person or thing.Frequently in (to find) one's niche: (to find) a comfortable or suitable position in life or employment.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > position or job > [noun] > suited to a person
niche1733
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > suitability or appropriateness > [noun] > that which is suitable or appropriate > a place or position suited to a thing
niche1733
1733 J. Swift Epist. to Lady 10 If I can but fill my Nitch, I attempt no higher Pitch.
1781 S. Johnson Mallet in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets X. 8 In the series of great men..he should find a nich for the hero of the theatre.
1815 T. Chalmers Let. in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1849) I. 21 They have a niche assigned them in almost every public doing.
1869 W. M. Rossetti in H. Gilbert Queene Elizabethes Achademy ii. 49 The work fills a niche of its own and is without competitor.
1897 Bookman Nov. 235 A roomy niche in the pronaos of Fame.
1924 P. G. Wodehouse Bill the Conqueror 5 She had grown used to his dreamy lack of ambition, his undynamic acceptance of his niche in the world.
1988 J. Black Yellow Wednesday (Glasgow District Libraries) 41 She found her niche driving an overhead crane in an engineering works.
b. Ecology. The actual or potential position of an organism within a particular ecosystem, as determined by its biological role together with the set of environmental conditions under which it lives.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > relationships of organisms > [noun] > position in community
niche1913
1913 J. Grinnell & H. S. Swarth in Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. 10 385 The query arises as to the cause of more rapid disappearance of types in such cases, even though they may hold, each, unchallenged possession of a separate ecologic niche.
1927 C. Elton Animal Ecol. v. 63 It is therefore convenient to have some term to describe the status of an animal in its community, to indicate what it is doing and not merely what it looks like, and the term used is ‘niche’.
1965 B. E. Freeman tr. A. Vandel Biospeleol. i. 6 A number of terrestrial planarians are endogeans, occupying a similar niche to the earthworms.
1992 M. Ingrouille Diversity & Evol. Land Plants 23 It seems likely that they evolved..at a time when their present-day tundra niche did not exist.
c. Business (originally U.S.). A position from which an entrepreneur seeks to exploit a shortcoming or an opportunity in an economy, market, etc.; (hence) a specialized market for a product or service. Cf. sense B.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > [noun] > highly specialized trade or market
segment1956
niche1963
market space1966
market niche1975
niche market1978
society > trade and finance > [noun] > highly specialized trade or market > position of
niche1963
1963 F. Barth Role of Entrepreneur 9 The point at which an entrepreneur seeks to exploit the environment may be described as his niche: the position which he occupies in relation to resources, competitors and clients.
1972 Network Anal. Stud. Human Interaction 155 It was chiefly through violence and cunning..that the successful peasant entrepreneur could hope to exploit his niche.
1986 Marketing Week 29 Aug. 19/4 Even Boots..is beginning to look for a new market niche and is testing concepts such as convenience-type foods and dairy products.
2001 Poultry World May 43/1 She says that there is a market, albeit a niche for organic poultry.
5. slang. The female genitals, the vagina. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sex organs > female sex organs > [noun] > vagina
quaintc1330
quivera1382
tailc1390
mousetrapc1500
cunnigar1550
placket1595
buttonhole1600
bumble broth1602
touch-hole1602
case1606
keyhole1607
vagina1612
nicka1625
nunquam satis1633
lock1640
twat1656
cockpit1658
Whitechapel portion?1695
tuzzy-muzzy1710
niche1749
can1772
bumbo1774
fuckhole1893
jelly roll1895
mole-catcher1896
manhole1916
vag1967
stank1980
pum-pum1983
punani1987
1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 86 Applying to the obvious nich its peculiar idol.
1902 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang V. 35/1 Niche (or Niche-cock) (venery), the female pudendum.
1980 E. Jong Fanny i. xv. 120 It means the Fanny-Fair,..the Cuckoo's Nest,..a Gold-Finch's Nest... 'Tis a Nest, a Niche, an Old Hat, an Omnibus, an Oyster, a Palace o' Pleasure.
B. adj.
Denoting or relating to a product, service, etc., that occupies or exploits a niche in the business world (see sense A. 4c); as niche market, niche player, niche product, etc. Hence more generally: narrow or specialized in scope or appeal; exclusive.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > [noun] > highly specialized trade or market
segment1956
niche1963
market space1966
market niche1975
niche market1978
society > trade and finance > [noun] > highly specialized trade or market > one who
niche player1978
1978 Chem. Week (Nexis) 6 Dec. (Management section) 45 The thrust of Uniroyal's growth in chemicals and plastic materials is development of ‘niche’ products.
1979 Business Week 21 May 126 f/3 My guess is that they'll use it to buy into another smallish, niche market.
1986 Times 6 Sept. 19/2 The move completes the group's strategy of becoming a niche player in the new securities market after the big bang.
1990 Winnipeg Free Press 28 Mar. 18/7 Gold is a volatile market—small, very niche and exotic.
1993 A. Toffler & H. Toffler War & Anti-war xi. 95 Niche products for the niche conflicts of tomorrow.
2006 Australian (Nexis) 24 Oct. 10 Poetry has become the nichest of niche interests: written by few, read by fewer.
2018 Daily Campus (Connecticut) (Nexis) 16 Feb. 1 There's Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival and there's Afropunk. Those are nicher.
Compounds
(In sense A. 1a.)
niche-band n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > other elements > [noun] > niche
cant1604
niche1610
nesset1614
nest1640
aedicula1672
retreat1687
retirement1726
kiblah1775
alcove1786
inset1829
aedicule1832
niche work1848
niche ornament1851
niche-band1867
tabernacle-niche1886
1867 A. Barry Life & Wks. Sir C. Barry vii. 254 The top of the niche-band ranged with the cornice of the building.
niche ornament n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > other elements > [noun] > niche
cant1604
niche1610
nesset1614
nest1640
aedicula1672
retreat1687
retirement1726
kiblah1775
alcove1786
inset1829
aedicule1832
niche work1848
niche ornament1851
niche-band1867
tabernacle-niche1886
1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. xxiv. 271 This niche ornament of the north.
niche work n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > other elements > [noun] > niche
cant1604
niche1610
nesset1614
nest1640
aedicula1672
retreat1687
retirement1726
kiblah1775
alcove1786
inset1829
aedicule1832
niche work1848
niche ornament1851
niche-band1867
tabernacle-niche1886
1848 J. H. Parker Rickman's Styles Archit. Eng. (ed. 5) 228 The buttresses..are ornamented with various tiers of niche-work.
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita II. vi. 203 By the 'carving' I meant the niche work, which is indeed curiously rude at Rheims.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
nichev.
/niːʃ/, /nɪtʃ/, U.S. /nɪtʃ/, /niʃ/ΚΠ
1679 A. Roberts tr. D. Vairasse d'Allais Hist. Sevarites II. 98 Ziribabdas..led us next to see the Treasury of the Church, which is a large Room joyning to the Porch, all arched above, with six Windows on the top: the Walls were of Diamant, niched with Saphirs and Emeralds.
2. transitive. To place (a statue, etc.) in a niche or similar recess. Usually in passive. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [verb (transitive)] > place in niche
niche1682
1682 R. Westcot tr. J. Selden Reverse Eng. Janus i. x. 16 They [some ancient Images of stone] were six in number,..at the door of the Temple niched into the Wall, of seven foot apiece in height, bare-footed, having their Heads uncovered.
1757 J. H. Grose Voy. E.-Indies xiii. 326 Domestic idols..which are niched in a conveyance that is to serve them for a triumphal car.
1798 C. Smith Young Philosopher IV. 66 You will never be niched with——faith, I have forgotten their names.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Lady of Lyons iii. ii No image of some marble saint, Nich'd in cathedral aisles, is hallow'd more.
1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) ii. v. 361 A family so conspicuously niched in the social temple as the family of Dorrit.
1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad xxi. 205 A waxen Virgin niched in a little box against the wall.
1925 T. Hardy Human Shows 15 Having niched it there I stepped back, cheered, and thought its outlines fair, And its marbles rare.
1993 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 2 Dec. 5/1 These elements ‘niched within the shadowy reaches of occult structures and operations and secret funds’, pull the strings that control the daily mayhem.
3. transitive. To place (a person, thing, etc.) in a recess or nook; to ensconce. Usually in passive. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > placing or fact of being placed in (a) position > place or put in a position [verb (transitive)] > in a corner, recess, or nook
cornera1387
cradlea1400
niche1710
ensconce1820
1710 tr. C. G. Le Clerc 2nd Pt. Compl. Surgeon 54 The Incus is a small Bone like an Anvil, whose Head is nich'd in a Cavity a-top of the Barrel.
1753 Philos. Trans. 1751–2 (Royal Soc.) 47 456 In the lithophyton, the urtica, being niched in their crusts or barks, deposits a juice or liquor.
1810 C. Jackson Let. 7 June in Lady Jackson Bath Archives (1873) I. 131 Your fair divinity was a little earthly paradise niched somewhere in the mountains.
1846 E. Bulwer-Lytton Lucretia I. i. ii. 99 Niched between two bouncing lasses, he had commenced acquaintance with them.
1862 T. A. Trollope Lenten Journey iv. 57 The little solitary convent..is niched into a little, low, damp-looking meadow.
1873 A. Dobson Vignettes in Rhyme 174 She leaned upon the slab..Scribbled a something with a frolic smile, Folded, inscribed, and niched it in the stone.
1876 M. Collins From Midnight to Midnight II. ii. 231 They got niched into a corner of the room.
1970 J. Glover Grass's Time 10 The smallest thing Leaving its trace: colour, bones, peat, Heather's roots niched in the frost-chiselled stone.
1992 S. Romer Plato's Ladder (BNC) 35 The murdering blackback circles But her woolly fledgling Niched among stones Has only colour and silence To protect him.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > position or situation > be positioned or situated [verb (intransitive)] > in a snug or sheltered manner
cradlea1616
niche1778
nestle1842
1778 E. M. Da Costa Historia Naturalis Testaceorum Britanniæ 224 It is found in incredible abundance, nitch'd or burrowed in the rocks of lime-stone.
1821 M. Edgeworth Let. 5 Dec. (1971) 285 There is just comfortable room to sit down in a place between cushions in which one niches snugly.
1834 M. Edgeworth Helen III. ii. 35 Nicely adapted, to her place in society, to nitch and notch in, and to be of no sort of value out of it.
1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe II. xxi. 351 Charlotte generally niched into Amy's old corner by Charles.
1883 K. S. Macquoid Her Sailor Love I. ii. vi. 115 Tufts of grass niching among the broken chalk.
5. transitive (reflexive). To settle or ensconce oneself quietly or comfortably; to find a suitable niche or refuge. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > position or situation > take up position [verb (reflexive)] > snugly
nestle1547
niche1801
1801 M. Edgeworth Good Aunt in Moral Tales IV. 8 Charles niched himself into a corner of the sofa, upon which the gentlemen were sitting, and grew very attentive.
1824 J. C. Hobhouse in Athenæum (1883) 4 Aug. 145/1 A corner or two for unobtrusive folks like ourselves to nitche themselves.
1853 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice III. ii. 60 It would not niche itself, wherever there was room for it, in the street corners.
1878 H. B. Stowe Poganuc People xvi. 140 Here Dolly loved to retreat and niche herself down in a quiet corner.
1985 Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 46 153 He had niched himself in my imagination.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > other elements > [verb (transitive)] > form as niche
niche1818
1818 J. C. Hobhouse Hist. Illustr. (ed. 2) 213 Half way up an open oratory has been niched into a wall.
1821 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto V lxvi. 168 A..cupboard niched in yonder.
7. transitive. Business. To identify and exploit a niche in (a commercial market); to assign a marketing niche to (a product, etc.). Also reflexive: to place oneself in a particular professional niche.
ΚΠ
1984 Tampa (Florida) Tribune 5 Apr. 15 b/2 ‘Niching the market’..refers to capturing a segment of the..market and operating profitably within it.
1989 Chem. Business (Nexis) Sept. 24 It's important to realize that family-owned distributor outfits are not mom and pop stores anymore. Now they've got boards of directors and banking connections. Most have niched themselves well.
1995 Wire Jan. 11/2 Their catalogue is remarkable, very open-ended with a consistently high standard of material. You couldn't niche what they were doing.
1997 Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) (Nexis) 23 June 7 What should they be doing differently? Niching their market and focusing on a smaller, more select group of customers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.adj.1610
v.1679