▪ I. neither, adv. (conj.) and a. (pron.)
(ˈniːðə(r), ˈnaɪðə(r))
Forms: α. 2 naiðer, 5 nayther, 6 Sc. naythir; 4 neyþur, 4–5 -der, 5– -þer, -þir, thir, -thyr, -dyr, 5–7 -ther; 5 neider, neiþir, 3–5 neiþer, 5– neither. β. 4 nethir, (5 -yr), 4–5 neþer, 6–7 nether, (6 -ar, neder); 5 neethur, -yr. γ. 5–6, 7 Sc. nather, 6 Sc. naþir, nathir, neather. δ. 6–7 nither.
[Early ME. naiðer, neyþer, etc., alterations of nauther, nouther, on analogy of either (q.v. for etym. and pron.).
The Sc. forms nather, nathir, may be survivals of the older nather, but are placed here on the ground that ather, athir are the normal Sc. forms of either.]
A. adv. (conj.)
1. Introducing the mention of alternatives or different things, about each of which a negative statement is made.
The regular position of neither is immediately before the first of the alternative expressions, but it is frequently placed earlier in the sentence.
† a. neither..ne. Obs.
In early use ne is also inserted after neither.
| c 1200 Vices & Virtues 9 Ne sweriȝeð, naiðer ne be heuene ne be ierðe. a 1300 Cursor M. 1660 Sal neþer liue ne fouul ne best. 13.. Ibid. 6941 (Gött.), His hali wandis..greu neyder less ne mare, Bot euer befor as þai ware. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 343 To him is þis thanke propur, & neyþur to pope ne confessour. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. xiv. 109 The sone dependeth of the fader..neither latter ne rather than the fader. 1496 Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 10 You shall not put therto neyther coporose ne vertgrees. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 b, Spared no labours neyther by see ne yet by lande. |
b. neither..nor.
Phr. neither here nor there: see here adv. 12.
| α 13.. Cursor M. 5857 (Gött.), Neyder i knou him þat ȝe say, Nor i ne wil lat þe folk away. c 1460 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 164 Thowe canst me neyder thank nor pleasse. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) i. 198 Of me thu shalt neyther haue ffee nor aduauntage. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 242 b, That gain once gotten.., neither othe holdeth, nor frendship continueth. 1594 O. B. Quest. Profit. Concern. L 2 b, Neither God nor nature giues this value vnto all. 1630 W. Bedell in Ussher's Lett. (1686) 454 This Protestation having neither Latin, nor Law, nor Common Sence. 1690 Locke Govt. i. ix. (Rtldg.) 103 Adam..being neither monarch, nor his imaginary monarchy hereditable. 1728 Ramsay Step-daughter ii, She neither has lawtith nor shame. 1746 Hervey Medit. (1818) 259 Neither care disturbs their sleep, nor passion inflames their breast. 1784 Cowper Task v. 90 Neither grub nor root nor earth-nut now Repays their labour more. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 555 Quarter was to be neither taken nor given. 1879 M. Arnold Mixed Ess., Irish Cathol. 120 There are neither fairies nor gnomes. |
| β 1535 Coverdale Tobit v. 2 Nether doth he knowe me, ner I him. 1549 Ridley Let. in Potts Liber Cantabr. (1855) 245, I am assuredly persuaded that it is neder the Kinge's Majesties nor your Graces pleasor. 1622 Dunbar's Poems lxxix. 4 Left is nether corce nor cunȝie. 1673 Scroggs in Hatton Corr. (Camden) 112, I choose the rather to write when I have nether business nor newes. |
| γ c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) iii. 23 Tho' naþir hairt nor mynd consentis. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxv. 52 Yit wer thay nather sauld nor slaine. 1611 Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 11 Nather prayers could prevaile nor wisses. |
c. With another negative, usually preceding. Now rare.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. xii. 818 That neyder you my lord kynge Arthur nor you syre Gawayne come not in to the felde. 1535 Coverdale Josh. viii. 20 They had no place to flie vnto, nether hither ner thither. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 42 Dauid king of Scottes..spoyled the Countrie,..not sparing neyther man woman nor chylde. 1606 L. Bryskett Civ. Life 32 Not tying himselfe absolutely to follow neither Plato nor Aristotle. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 494 No part neither of Nature, nor of the World, is to Homer Godless. 1827 Southey Penins. War II. 131 There was now no respite neither by day nor night for this devoted city. a 1849 H. Coleridge Ess. (1851) II. 277 Christianity abrogated no duty..neither for Jew nor Gentile. |
d. With two sing. subjects and pl. verb.
| 1759 Johnson Idler No. 44 ¶3 Neither search nor labour are necessary. 1777 Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 37 Neither the Duke of Bedford nor Lord Sussex have cut yet. 1826 Southey Vind Eccl. Angl. 478 Neither the Law nor the Gospel were introduced with such appalling miracles. 1874 Ruskin Fors Clav. xliii. 139 Neither painting nor fighting feed men. |
e. neither..or.
| 1530 Tindale Answ. More (Parker Soc.) 64 The outward place neither helpeth or hindereth. 1566 Pasquine in a Traunce 111 That..we neyther tourne asyde to the right or left hande. 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 416 A..woman, neither walking, running, or staying. 1671 Milton P.R. i. 268 Yet, neither thus dishearten'd or dismay'd, The time prefixt I waited. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 478, I can neither tell how many we kill'd, or how many we wounded. 1786 A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscr. I. 70 Engaging to spare neither trouble or expence. 1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry III. 26 These modern antiques neither supply the interest of classical or of German poetry. 1874 G. W. Dasent Tales fr. Fjeld 204 Wasn't it true that he neither knew anything or could do anything? |
† f. neither..neither (or nother). Obs.
| a 1539 in Archaeol. XLVII. 54 Nither at the christening nother at the confirmacion. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 102 We..intend so to proceed in this matter, neither enclynyng on the right hande, neyther yet on the left. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 176 Neither alwaies, neither to euery one, neither of euery sort. |
† g. Irregularly followed by and or but. Obs.
| 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. iv. xvi. (1622) 115 They neither gaue courage to the fearfull, but carried away them⁓selues with like fear, ran al away for company. Ibid. xi. vii. 148, I will neither vtter any thing falsely, and am ashamed to tell the truth. 1673 Marvell Reh. Transp. ii. 200 He that chuses a just weight does neither find himself the weaker.., and reaches the length he aim'd at. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. (1862) 121 That neither thou, but especially I, am not made myself this example. |
2. = Nor, nor yet; and not, also not. Now used only when the alternatives are expressed in clauses or sentences.
| 1462 Anc. Cal. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 313 No bowcher nayther bowcher ys man, neethyr no nothyr man. 1513–14 Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. 17 §2 That no persone that is taxed for landes..be sett or taxed for his godes..neither econtrarye. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 25 b, He said it was a matter newly invented, neyther used in former time. 1615 W. Bedwell Arab. Trudg., Sarraceni..are those people which otherwise..were called..Arabians. Neither were they so named of Sara, Abrahams wife. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. ii. §7 Wee cannot then, neither ought we to determine any thing concerning the particular waies of Gods bounty. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 120 But that there was no help for; neither was my Time so much Loss to me. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 217 Such powers I boast not—neither can I rest A silent witness of the head⁓long rage. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 300 If there are no teachers, neither are there disciples? |
3. a. Used to strengthen a preceding negative: = Either.
| 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 81 It is euen so, and yet not true neither, that [etc.]. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iii. 18 Nay that cannot bee so neyther. 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II) 103 Yet desire I not nither to tire my hands with writing continually to no profit. 1668 G. Etherege She Wou'd if She Cou'd iii. i, Now I have thought better on 't, that is not absolutely necessary neither. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 423 ¶2 Expressions of Rapture and Adoration will not move her neither. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) I. xxxvii. 264 Perhaps I may not make it in form neither. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 436, I would not exclude alteration neither. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby iv. ix, There were no books neither. 1871 Meredith H. Richmond lv, Lady Edbury would never see Roy-Richmond after that, nor the old lord neither. |
b. Without preceding negative, or not in direct connexion with one.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 94 Ad. Then let your seruants bring my husband forth. Ab. Neither: he tooke this place for sanctuary. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 596 The Inhabitants cannot travell but with a licence, and with that neither, but for a prefixed season. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 272, I can more freely speak my Mind upon the Occasion, though I am but a poor Casuist neither. 1909 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Avonlea x. 98 ‘Davy declares he never saw her since I left.’ ‘Neither I did,’ avowed Davy. 1926 J. Black You can't Win xiii. 165 ‘I wouldn't plead guilty to anything if I were you,’ I advised him. ‘Me, neither,’ said his partner. 1973 R. Busby Pattern of Violence iv. 61 ‘Can you place either of them?’ The young detective shook his head. ‘Me neither.’ |
B. adj.
1. Not the one or the other.
Also formerly neither nother: see nother.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 143 Þat þei moun not wagge to neiþir side aboute þe sowynge. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 236 b, I should have but small thanke of neyther partie. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 312 Nothing neither way. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 53 But neither Shoar his Conquest shall confine. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xvii, Neither one of us was particularly eager about rushing into that near smoking Babylon. |
2. absol. as pron. Also const. of.
Also formerly never neither (1449); neither other (1529); neither nother (see nother), or following another negative.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1276 Ðor ben he boðen feren pliȝt ðat here neiðer sal don oðer un-riȝt. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. iii. 14 Sithen to neuer neither thei han sufficient euydence. 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 163/2 What if neyther other..were likely to be trewe, but semed bothe twayne impossible. 1567 J. Sandford Epictetus 27 We haue not any thing written of neither of them. 1609 Bible (Douay) Deut. xxiv. comm., For no cause neither of them can marie againe, so long as the other liveth. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1188 Thus they in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning. 1759 Johnson Rasselas xxviii. [xxix], Neither can forbear to wish for the absence of the other. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 191 Neither of his visitors saw him. 1886 R. C. Moberly Probl. & Princ. x. (1904) 314 They are co-ordinate,..they neither override the other. |
† b. neither of both, neither of either. Obs.
| 1537 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. III. 148 Prosperity and..adversite, for nedyr off both doth tary, but brevely over⁓passe. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 459 Qu. Will you haue me, or your Pearle againe? Ber. Neither of either, I remit both twaine. 1600 Holland Livy x. xxxvi. 377 But neither of both had any stomacke to fight. 1633 Rowley Match at Midn. in Dodsley O. Pl. (1780) VII. 405 Troth, neither of either, so let him understand. |
c. Not any one (of more than two).
| 1644 [H. Parker] Jus Populi 14 Our adversaries boast of three Conquests in this Island, and yet neither of them all was just or totall. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 164 Matter, Form, and Accidents; neither of which can be the Aristotelick Nature. 1796 Southey Let. in Life (1849) I. 263 He at last fixed upon a leg of mutton, soles and oyster sauce, and toasted cheese—to the no small amusement of those who knew he could get neither. 1846 Grove Corr. Phys. Forces (1855) 15 Heat, light, electricity, magnetism,..are all correlatives,..neither, taken abstractedly, can be said to be the essential cause of the others. |
d. With plural verb.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 253 Thersites body is as good as Aiax, When neyther are aliue. 1648 Heylin Relat. & Observ. i. 142 b, Neither of which are able to read any one Record in those Offices. 1700 Dryden Pref. Fables Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 254 Both writ with wonderful facility and clearness; neither were great inventors. 1741 C'tess of Hertford Corr. (1805) II. 245 Neither of your letters mention these disagreeable circumstances. 1781 G. Wakefield in Mem. (1804) I. 461 Neither of us are the proper judges. 1859 F. W. Newman Phases of Faith 184 Neither of them declare themselves eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection. 1875 Ruskin Fors Clav. li. 62 What at present I believe neither of us know. |
▪ II. neither
obs. f. nether a.