▪ I. neighbour, n.
(ˈneɪbə(r))
Forms: α. 1–3 néahᵹe-, 1–2 néahhe, 1–3 nehᵹe-, (3 nehgi-); 1–2 nehhe-, nehe-, (1 neche-, 3 nethte-, 4–5 Sc. neth-); 3 nege-, 3–6 negh(e-, 4–5 neȝ(e-, neght(e-, 5 neȝt-; 2 neihi-, 3–4 neiȝ(e-, 4 neieȝ-, 4– neigh-, (4 neighe-, neight-, neihe-, 5 neihȝe-, 6 neig-, Sc. neicht-); 4–5 neyh(e-, (4 neyhȝe-, neyȝ-), 4–6 neygh(e-, 5–6 neyg-, 1 n{yacu}hᵹe-, 3 nijhge-, 5–6 Sc. nicht-; 4–7 Sc. nycht-, 5 nygh(e-, 6 Sc. nych-. 1–6 -bur(e, 3–7 -bore, 4–7 -boure-, (4 -boer, 4–6 Sc. -bowr, 5 -borgh, -burgh), 3– (now U.S.) -bor, 4– -bour. β. 4 neybor, (5 -bour, 5–6 -bowre); 4 nyebore, 6 Sc. nibour, (9 -ber), 6 ne-, 7 neibour, (8–9 -bor, 9 -ber), 8–9 nee-bor, (9 -bour, -ber, -bir), 9 nebber; 5 neypur, 8– neiper, 8 ni-, 9 neepour.
[OE. néahᵹeb{uacu}r, néahhe-, etc. (f. néah nigh a. + ᵹeb{uacu}r: see boor) = MDu. nagebuer, -buy(e)r, -boer, OHG. nâhgibûr and -bûro (MHG. nâchgebûr, -bûre); also OS. nâbûr, MDu. nabuer, -bur, -ber, MLG. nabur, -ber, neber, etc., MHG. nâchbûr (G. nachbar); cf. ON. náb{uacu}e, -b{uacu}i (Sw. and Da. nabo).]
1. One who lives near or next to another; one who occupies a near or adjoining house, one of a number of persons living close to each other, esp. in the same street or village.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xliv. 322 Ne laða ðærto..ðine cuðan, ne ðine weleᵹan neahᵹeburas. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke i. 65 Aworden wæs ondo ofer alle neheburas hiora. c 1000 in Assmann Ags. Hom. (1889) xvi. 268 Alle hyre nehheburas, æᵹðer ᵹe werasᵹe wyf, swyðe weopon. c 1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 322 Þon nyme he hys neahᵹebur þe him ᵹehendost sy. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 83 Hie gon to chirche..for to biregen nehebores speche. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11143 To driue and to gaderi þuder god of neiȝebores aboute. 1382 Wyclif 2 Kings iv. 3 Aske by borwynge of alle thi neyȝbours. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 1012 With thaim thow was a nychtbour off this toun. a 1500 in C. Trice-Martin Chanc. Proc. 15th C. (1904) 5 Your suppliaunt sent into London for his neighburghs whiche took him to bayle. 1589 R. Harvey Plain Perc. (1590) 10 It wil..set the next neighbors medowes all on a floate. 1650 T. Hubbert Pill Formality 137 Their tears..pierce the hearts of their pittying neighbors. 1699 Dryden Ep. J. Driden 7 Contending neighbours come, From your award to wait their final doom. 1744 Berkeley Siris §72, I live in a remote corner, among poor neighbours. 1790 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 25 Near neighbors are seldom good ones. 1847 H. Miller First Impr. Eng. xx. (1857) 357 Neighbours of a class that in Scotland would be on the most intimate terms. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 55 The Norman landowner held his lands on the same tenure..as his English neighbour. |
| Proverbs. 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 527/83 Bettre is a neiȝebore neiȝe Then a brothur fer fro thin eiȝe. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. ix. (Skeat) l. 144 An olde proverbe aleged by many wyse:— ‘Whan bale is greetest, than is bote a nye-bore.’ c 1450 Merlin 434 Men seyn an olde sawe, who hath a goode neighbour hath goode morowe. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 464 It is oftentymes sayd, he y{supt} hath an yl neyghbour hath oftentymes an yll mornynge. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 49 Our Englysh prouerbe, which speketh in this wyse. A nere neyghbour is better than a farre frende. 1594 Mirr. Policy (1599) O iij, The common Prouerbe saith, That who so hath a good neighbor, hath a good morrow. |
b. In echoes of Biblical passages (as Luke x. 27) inculcating men's duties towards each other, or in similar contexts. Hence sometimes taken in a widely extended sense.
In OE. versions expressed by n{iacu}ehsta, etc.; see next.
| a 1300 Ten Commandm. 33 in E.E.P. (1862) 16 Loue þi neiȝbore as þine owe bodi: non oþer þou him wil. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 5860 Yhit sal men yhelde acount..of ilka neghebur, Þat men fals to help and to socur. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶442 In the name of thy neighebour thou schalt understonde the name of thy brother. 1426 Audelay Poems 9 Ȝif thou love thi neȝtboure. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems ix. 109 Preysing my self, and evill my nichtbouris deming. 1570 T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 138 The name of neighbour containeth..also those whom we know not, yea, and our enemies. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. II. 140 The..rivalship is between self-love and the love of our neighbour. 1841 Trench Parables xvii. (1877) 328 Who is a neighbour, he who shows love, or he who shows it not? 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. xi. 170 The worship of God and the sanctification of his neighbour. |
c. As a form of address. Now only dial.
| ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (E.E.T.S.) xiii. 82 Neighbour, if I the truth should say. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. iii. 7 Giue them their charge, neighbour Dogbery. 1607 ― Cor. i. i. 63 Why Masters, my good Friends, mine honest Neighbours, will you vndo your selues? 1779 Cowper Yearly Distress 50 Come, neighbours, we must wag. 1873 in Ellis E.E. Pronunc. v. (1889) 7* Well, neighbour, you and he may both laugh at this news of mine. |
† d. good neighbours, the fairies. Sc. Obs.
| a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 275 in Jas. I. Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 68 In the hinder end of haruest vpon Alhallow ene, Quhen our gude nichtbors rydis. 1588 [see good a. 2 d]. 1615 Orkney Witch Trial in Maitl. Cl. Misc. II. 167 The fary folk callit of hir our guid nichbouris. |
2. a. (Chiefly pl.) One who dwells in an adjoining or not far distant town, district, or land. Also applied to the rulers of adjacent countries.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 201 Neapolite ða heora nehᵹeburas..on hæðnum þeawum dwelᵹende wæron. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1117 Eall þis ȝear wunode se cyng..on Normandiȝ for þes cyninges unsehte of France & his oðra nehhebura. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 5941 From o stede til oþer he hasted; To ney neygheburs, & ferþer fro, Til alle he dide skaþe & wo. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 87 Thai trowyt that he, as gud nychtbur, And as freyndsome compositur, Wald hawe iugyt in lawte. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12959 He was neghbur full negh to þe noble yle, There Agamynon the gode gouernaunce hade. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. xi. (S.T.S.) I. 66 We faucht nocht alanerlie with oure Inemyis, bot als with..oure nychtbouris [v.r. nebouris] and freyndis. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 399 b, Nowe that he possesseth Lorayne, he shall be their nere neighbour. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. i. 97 In speiche thay differ no{supt} far frome thair ny{supt}bouris the Inglise men. 1667 Sprat Hist. R. Soc. 65 This has rous'd all our neighbors to fix their eies upon England. 1674 Brevint Saul at Endor 239 Being worth one thousand Years [indulgence] to the Romans, two thousand to remoter Neighbours. 1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie I. xv. 220 Those States, of which he had been an ignorant neighbour half his life. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vi. ii. (1872) II. 143 A difficult huff of quarrel..had fallen⁓out with his neighbour of Saxony. |
b. A person or thing which is in close proximity to another; one who stands or sits near or next to another on some occasion.
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 9 b, For infection of rustie..Mineralles being nigh neighbour to them. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1416 One man's hand lean'd on another's head, His nose being shadow'd by his neighbour's ear. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 66 Nor place them..where the Yeugh their pois'nous Neighbour grows. 1738 Wesley Ps. cxlvii. v, Cedars, Neighbours to the Sky. 1820 Shelley Sensit. Pl. i. 67 Each one was interpenetrated With the light and the odour its neighbour shed. 1880 Disraeli Endym. xxxviii, ‘Lady Montfort looks well to-night’, said the neighbor of Myra. |
| fig. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 60 b, Oignon, the next neighbour to the Leeke. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. ii. 43 The deepe reuoluing wittie Buckingham No more shall be the neighbor to my counsailes. |
c. Sc. A thing which makes a pair with another; a fellow, ‘marrow’.
| 1820 [implied in neighbourless]. 1887 Service Life Dr. Duguid 213 The stockins werna neebors. 1896 Setoun R. Urquhart xxvii, I mind o' her gettin' the neighbour made to it in Edinburgh. |
3. In predicative use. In Sc. used in pl.
| 1528 Paynell Salerne's Regim. F iij, Sklender and white wyne is vniuersally neighbour to water. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. Prol. 47 Nichtbouris to thame is Buquhane. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xv, I ance was neepours wi' a chap 't could 'a deen that. |
4. In attrib. use, passing into adj. Living or situated near or close to some other person or thing. a. With names of persons. Now rare.
| 1530 Palsgr. 247/2 Neighbour woman, uoisine. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 272 The nychbour men that duelt into that steid, Tha schew to him that Convallus wes deid. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. i. 150 Our Neighbour-Shepheard's Sonne. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 82, I can dive into a millstone as far as any of my neighbour princes. 1712 Arbuthnot J. Bull i. vii, His neighbour tradesmen began to shun his company. 1785 Forbes Ulysses 27 (E.D.D.), I dinna like to tell ill tales Upo' my neiper man. 1853 Watson Poems 42 (E.D.D.), The lasses..Ay botherin' at their neibor chiels. |
b. Of peoples, countries, cities, etc. (Very common c 1580–1700.)
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 50, I longed the neighbour towne to see. 1587 Golding De Mornay ix. (1592) 136 Many euen of our Neighbour nations. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle iv. 1594 In a neighbour land he died. 1668 Sprat Life Cowley C.'s Wks. 1710 I. p. xiii, Many great Revolutions, which..disturb'd the Peace of all our Neighbour-States. 1719 W. Woods Surv. Trade 366 The Proportion they severally bear..in our Neighbour Nations. 1797 Godwin Enquirer i. xi. 97 Treat the neighbour-state as a conquered province. 1869 F. W. Newman Misc. 288 In Rome I see a power which..drove out every neighbour people. |
c. Of things, places, buildings, etc.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. June 52 Whose Echo made the neyghbour groues to ring. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 212 Ile lugge the Guts into the Neighbor roome. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 121 Lights of Heaven, which do suit themselves to the motion of the nearest, or Neighbour-lights. 1696 Whiston The. Earth (1722) 13 The Moon, our attending and Neighbour Planet. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 665 Some..catch the neighbour shrub With clasping tendrils. 1842 Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 86 The steer..Leaning his horns into the neighbour field, And lowing to his fellows. 1876 Gladstone Glean. (1879) II. 332 Saint John's, the neighbour college to Macaulay's justly loved and honoured Trinity. |
d. With abstract ns. Now rare.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 119 Such neighbour-neerenesse to our sacred blood, Should nothing priuiledge him. 1643 [Angier] Lanc. Vall. Achor 11 That their lent assistance might be loosed for home and neighbour defence. 1678 Dryden All for Love Pref., To Christen an Imperfection by the Name of some neighbour Virtue. |
† e. = Neighbourly. Obs. rare.
| 1619 W. Sclater Exp. 1 Thess. (1630) 155 Perhaps also neighbour offices of kindnesse and mercy sometimes passe from them. |
5. Comb., as neighbour-stained. rare.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. i. 89 Prophaners of this Neighbor-stained Steele. |
▪ II. neighbour, v.
(ˈneɪbə(r))
[f. prec.]
I. intr.
1. Of persons: To live near or close to a person, place, etc.; to border upon. Also freq. with near. Now rare.
| 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 130 A certaine poore man,..neighbouring neere unto one worshipful and of great account. 1615 Day Festivals xii. 349 Let us, Beloved, beare affection..unto such as Neighbour at any time neere unto us. 1657 Earl of Monmouth tr. Paruta's Pol. Disc. 81 Their own Soldiers, and..their Associates, who did all neighbor neer upon them. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. i, Oh no! we neighbour nearer to the Sun. |
2. Of things or places: To lie near or close (to or upon something else); to be contiguous with.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 259 A copse that neighbours by. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 268 Neighbouring here⁓unto is Odiam, glorious in these daies. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. 1 The upper part..is termed Hypochondrium, neighbouring upon the lower gristles of the Ribs. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 97 Neighbouring nigh, one lonely elder-tree Is all that's left. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 51 The peaks That neighbour with the stars. |
b. To come near to, almost amount to, something. rare—1.
| 1631 Massinger Believe as You List v. ii, To have faith in him Neighbours to treason. |
3. With it. To associate like neighbours. rare.
| 1586 Bright Melanch. xii. 58 Neither that diverse [things] will so neighbour it together, as to dwell in one indiuiduall subiect. 1828–32 Webster s.v., To neighbor it, in colloquial language, to cultivate friendly intercourse by mutual visits. |
4. To be on neighbourly terms, to associate in a friendly way, with others. Also transf.
| 1820 Scott Abbot xxvi, The electuary..neighboured ill with the two spoonfuls of pease-porridge and the kirnmilk. 1862 Borrow Wales III. 79 The Welsh won't neighbour with them, or have anything to do with them, except now and then in the way of business. 1879 Tourgee Fool's Err. xvi. 83 The few country-people who ‘neighbored with them’, as it is termed there, comprised their only society. |
b. dial. To go visiting or gossiping among neighbours.
| 1854– in dial. glossaries (Lanc., Yks., Leic., Warw., etc.). |
II. trans.
5. To adjoin, touch, border upon, lie next or close to.
Very common c 1600–1660, and freq. in 19th c.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 333 As they were walking alongst a Gallerie, they heard from a Chamber neighbouring the side of it, a dolorous sound. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 591 The principall Citie is called Paquin, neighbouring Tartary. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Bucks i. (1662) 132 Those that in the same earth neighbour thee. 1798 Cowper Let. to Lady Hesketh 13 Oct., It neighbours nearly, and as nearly resembles, the scenery of Catfield. 1822 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Compl. Decay Beggars, He seemed..to suck in fresh vigour from the soil which he neighboured. 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap ii. 308 One whose father's house upon the Quai Neighboured the very house. 1893 Nat. Observer 25 Nov. 41/1 The years that neighboured their departure. |
b. To come near to, to approach.
| 1859 Meredith R. Feverel viii, I can pretty nigh neighbour it with a guess. 1891 ― One of our Conq. xxxv, He neighboured sagacity when he pointed that interrogation relating to Nesta's precociousness. |
c. To be neighbour to (one).
| 1872 E. J. Irving Lays 228 (E.D.D.), Twa lads that I neiboured lang syne. 1892 Lumsden Sheep-head 212 Will you neighbour us in the smoking-room? |
6. In pa. pple. a. neighboured by or neighboured with, having (some person or thing) as near neighbour or close at hand.
| a 1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella Sonn. xxix, Like some weak Lords neighbord by mightie Kings. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. (1637) 22 The hot water bathes, heretofore adorned, and neighboured with magnificent building. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. v. Wks. (1847) 537/2 The Danes..not liking perhaps to be neighboured with strong towns. 1836 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. viii. vii. 79 Such passages..are preludes or interludes neighboured by heavy monologue. a 1873 Lytton Ken. Chillingly ii. viii, Provided they be neighboured by water. |
b. Brought or placed near to some person or thing; situated close together.
| 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits v. (1596) 54 These ventricles..are so vnited and nere neighboured, that neither..can be distinguished. 1605 Shakes. Lear i. i. 121 The barbarous Scythian..shall to my bosome Be as well neighbour'd. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 127 That..my dust may be neighboured to your precious dust. 1803 Godwin Chaucer II. xlvi. 400 To contemplate this ancient baron neighboured to a throne. 1820 Keats Lamia i. 240 So neighbour'd to him, and yet so unseen She stood. |
7. (Cf. prec.) a. To bring near to something. b. To place in conjunction with something.
| a 1662 Heylin Laud (1668) 60 The Reversion of a Prebend in that Church; which..neighbour'd him to the Court. 1791 Cowper Odyss. xv. 590 But Jove Hath neighbour'd all thy evil with this good. |
Hence ˈneighbouring vbl. n.
| 1651 G. W. tr. Cowel's Inst. 31 The building together, and neighbouring of houses, by which means we have our Cities, Borroughs, and Villiages. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss., I was never one for so much neighbouring and newsing. |