nigh
part of speech
adverb (nigh); adjective (nigh, old: nigher, nighest); preposition (nigh)
meaning for a pupil
1) (old) Nigh means near, either in place or in time: «The end is nigh». tree →
2) Nigh on or well nigh means almost or nearly: «It took nigh on an hour». tree →
3) (UK, dialect) Some people in parts of England still use «nigh» in everyday speech for near. tree →
sense in the lessons
Mostly in old stories, poems, the Bible and fairy tales, or in jokey speech. Phrases: «the end is nigh», «well nigh impossible», «nigh on», «draw nigh».
examples
- The end is nigh! shouted the man with the sign. tree →
- Winter is drawing nigh. tree →
- It was well nigh impossible to see in the fog. tree →
- We waited nigh on two hours for the bus. tree →
- (Bible) «The kingdom of God is nigh at hand.» tree →
- The knight rode nigh to the castle. tree →
- Bedtime is nigh, so brush your teeth. tree →
- Grandad says it's nigh on ten miles to the coast. tree →
- After running seven miles or so, Pinocchio was well-nigh exhausted. tree →
note
Say «nye», rhymes with «sky». The gh is silent, as in «night» and «high». Old-fashioned; in normal writing use «near» or «nearly». In maths problems, «nigh on 50» means almost 50, a bit less.
In the corpora
- And henceforth the children of Israel shall not come nigh the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.
- And it shall be, when ye draw nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,
- When thou drawest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
- But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
- So Joab and the people that were with him drew nigh unto the battle against the Arameans; and they fled before him.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «nigh» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.