neighbour
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈneɪbə//
- United States//ˈneɪbɚ//
A person living on adjacent or nearby land; a person situated adjacently or nearby; anything (of the same type of thing as the subject) in an adjacent or nearby position.
noun
- 1
A person living on adjacent or nearby land; a person situated adjacently or nearby; anything (of the same type of thing as the subject) in an adjacent or nearby position.
My neighbour has two noisy cats.
They′re our neighbours across the street.
1660, Hugh Peters, The Tales and Jests of Mr. Hugh Peters, reprinted 1807, page 10, Being at his own house in the country, when a great tempest of wind rose, he takes an occasion to visit a neighbour by him, and being somewhat merily disposed, quoth he Oh neighbour, did you not see what a wind there was the other day?
Undine at length shrank back with an unrecognizing face; but her movement made her opera-glass slip to the floor, and her neighbour bent down and picked it up.
- 2
One who is near in sympathy or confidence.
Buckingham / No more shall be the neighbour to my counsel.
- 3
A fellow human being.
1982, Bible (NKJV), Leviticus 19:18, You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
- 4
Anything located directly adjacent to something else.
The flood fill algorithm fills an area with colour by starting at one pixel and recursively visiting its neighbours.
Etymology
From Middle English neighebour, neighbour, neyghebour, from Old English nēahġebūr (“neighbour”), from Proto-West Germanic *nāhwagabūrō, from Proto-Germanic *nēhwagabūrô (“neighbour”, literally “near-dweller”), from *nēhwaz (“close, near”) + *gabūrô (“dweller”). Equivalent to nigh (“near”) + bower (“farmer”). Cognates Cognate with Scots nebour, neebour, neibour (“neighbour”), Yola nipore, nypore (“neighbour”), North Frisian Naiber, naibüür, näiber (“neighbour”), Saterland Frisian Noaber (“neighbour”), Alemannic German Naachpuur, Nochbär (“neighbour”), Central Franconian Nohber (“neighbour”), Dutch nabuur (“neighbour”), Low German Naber, Nahwer (“neighbour”), German Nachbar (“neighbour”), Luxembourgish Noper (“neighbour”), Vilamovian nokwer, nökver, nökwer (“neighbour”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish nabo (“neighbour”), Faroese nábúgvi (“neighbour”), Icelandic nábúi (“neighbour”), Manx naboo (“neighbour”), Scottish Gaelic nàbaidh (“neighbour”), Estonian naaber (“neighbour”), Finnish naapuri (“neighbour”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English prome (“neighbour”), borrowed from Old French proeme, proime, proisme (“neighbour”) (<< Latin proximus (“nearest, next”).
verb
- 1
To be adjacent to
Though France neighbours Germany, its culture is significantly different.
Theſe grow at the South end of the Iland, and on the leiſurely aſcending hills that neighbour the ſhore.
[…] who neighbourest the rock-born rill, / Thou Hermes!
OUR GOD, we bless Thee that Thy rainbow is on the cloud. […] Such things are too high. We can not attain unto them. But no matter. We catch the many lights the rainbow wears. Thou neighborest with our cloud.
- 2
figurativeTo be similar to, to be almost the same as.
That sort of talk is neighbouring on treason.
- 3
To associate intimately with; to be close to.
[…] the barbarous Scythyan, […] / Shall bee as well neighbour’d, pittyed and relieued / As thou my ſometime daughter.
Forms
- plural
- neighbours
- past tense
- neighboured
- past participle
- neighboured
- present participle
- neighbouring
- third person singular
- neighbours
neighbour · A person living on adjacent or nearby land; a person situated adjacently or nearby; anything (of the same type of thing as the subject) in an…
neighbourhood · British standard spelling of neighborhood.neighing · The sound made by a horse: an act or instance of the verb…Neil · A male given name from Irish.