nigh

adjective

1. 1

   archaicNear, close by.

   The end is nigh!

   Daybreak is drawing nigh.

   For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   a. 1831, Ludovico Ariosto, William Stewart Rose (translator), Orlando Furioso, 2006, Echo Library, page 185, He at his head took aim who stood most nigh;

2. 2

   Not remote in degree, kindred, circumstances, etc.; closely allied; intimate.

   Ye […] are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

verb

1. 1

   to draw nigh (to); to approach; to come near

   When the charnel-eyed Pale Horse has nighed

adverb

1. 1

   Almost, nearly.

   So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor.[…]It looked like a tomb and smelt pretty nigh as musty and dead-and-gone.

   Hell of a surprise in the seventh season premiere of Game Of Thrones. Arya Stark, fresh off a nigh Cersei-level ambush of the Frey household, comes upon a small campfire surrounded by fresh-faced red cloaks.

preposition

1. 1

   near; close to

   When the Moon is horned […] is it not ever nigh the Sun?

   The cottage stood nigh the burn, in a little garden, with lilyoaks and grosart bushes lining the pathway.

Forms

comparative

nigher, more nigh

superlative

nighest, most nigh

past tense

nighed

past participle

nighed

present participle

nighing

third person singular

nighs