Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Located beneath or below; lower or under.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Lower; under: opposed to upper: as, the nether millstone.
- . Pertaining to the regions here below; earthly.
- Pertaining to the lower regions or hell; infernal.
- noun A variant of
nedder , nadder, adder. - Downward; down.
- To bring low; humiliate.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Situated down or below; lying beneath, or in the lower part; having a lower position; belonging to the region below; lower; under; -- opposed to
upper .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Lower ;under . - adjective Lying
beneath , or conceived as lying beneath, theEarth ’s surface. - adverb
Down ;downward . - adverb
Low ;low down . - verb transitive, Northern England, Scotland To
bring orthrust down ; bring or makelow ;lower ;abase ;humble . - verb transitive, Northern England, Scotland To
constrict ;straiten ;confine ;restrict ;suppress ;lay low ; keep under;press in upon;vex ;harass ;oppress . - verb transitive, Scotland To
pinch orstunt with cold or hunger; check in growth;shrivel ; straiten. - verb transitive, Scotland To
shrink orhuddle , as with cold; be shivery;tremble . - verb transitive, Scotland To
depreciate ;disparage ;undervalue . - noun Scotland
Oppression ;stress ; awithering orstunting influence. - noun mining A
trouble ; afault ordislocation in a seam of coal.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective located below or beneath something else
- adjective lower
- adjective dwelling beneath the surface of the earth
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So, if you wouldn't mind, please supply a source for that figure, or will ASSume it came from a thin nether region!
Debate update David 2005
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Old Solomon, in his seedy clothes and long white locks, seemed to be luring that decent company by the magic scream of his fiddle -- luring discreet matrons in turban shaped caps, nay, Mrs. Crackenthorp herself, the summit of whose perpendicular feather was on a level with the Squire's shoulder -- luring fair lasses complacently conscious of very short waists and skirts blameless of front - folds -- luring burly fathers in large variegated waist-coats, and ruddy sons, for the most part shy and sheepish, in short nether garments and very long coat-tails.
Silas Marner (1885) 1861
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Solomon, in his seedy clothes and long white locks, seemed to be luring that decent company by the magic scream of his fiddle -- luring discreet matrons in turban-shaped caps, nay, Mrs. Crackenthorp herself, the summit of whose perpendicular feather was on a level with the Squire's shoulder -- luring fair lasses complacently conscious of very short waists and skirts blameless of front-folds -- luring burly fathers in large variegated waistcoats, and ruddy sons, for the most part shy and sheepish, in short nether garments and very long coat-tails.
Silas Marner George Eliot 1849
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Are we going to end up like Japan, in other words, a nether world of "zombie banks" that are not dead but not really alive either, still unable to work their way out from under all that bad debt?
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If you've knocked your partner up, it seems to follow that you might be curious about her 'nether' regions during and after the birth of your child.
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JANET RENO, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Everyday that goes by in which Elian is not reunited with his father and this matter brought to a conclusion is -- can be disruptive and no child should be in that kind of nether-nether land for that long.
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Neptune (the god of the Sea), and Pluto ( 'nether' or Stygian Jove).
Milton's Comus John Milton 1641
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In the following paragraphs, I have drawn freely from materials in Sornig's book -- but for my own purposes in this article: the book itself uses the examples to illustrate a variety of sources of slang in accordance with the author's analysis of the "nether" reaches of the language, an analysis I shall only touch on here and there.
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(Isaiah 47: 1,2) "facing each other; both have hold of the handle by which the upper is turned round on the 'nether' millstone.
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As a runner, you don't HAVE to wear shorts that barely cover your nether-regions – it's not a requirement.
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