▪ I. nye Now dial.
Also 5 neye, 7 ny, 9 ni.
[ad. OF. ni, ny (mod.F. nid):—L. nīdus nest.]
A brood (of pheasants). Cf. eye n.2
| c 1470 Hors, Shepe, & G. (Roxb.) 30 A neye of fesantes. 1486 Bk. St. Albans f vj, A Nye of Fesaunttys. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 310/2. 1818 Todd, Nye of pheasants, a brood of pheasants: So an eye is sometimes called. 1853– in various dial. glossaries (Essex, Sussex, Hants, Berks, Warw., Worc., etc.). |
▪ II. † nye
variant of neye, eye. Obs.
| 1602 Dekker Satirom. G 2 b, And there stucke a nose and two nyes in his pate. 1624 Davenport City Night-c. i. ii, Sweet chick, I come to take leave of thee: finger in nye already! 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 39 (1713) I. 255 As like one of your Smithfield Lions, as ever he can peke out of his Nyes. |
▪ III. nye
obs. f. neigh, nigh, nine; var. of noy v. Obs.