▪ I. niece
obs. form of nice.
▪ II. niece
(niːs)
Forms: 3–6 nece, 4–6 nese, (4 neese), 5–6 nees, 6–8 neece; 6 neise, neyce, neipce, 7 neice; 6 niese, niepce, nyepce, 6– niece; 4–7 nice, (4 nyce).
[a. F. nièce (12th c.), † nece, neice, nice, niepce, etc. = Prov. netsa, obs. It. nezza:—pop. L. neptia, for L. neptis (related to nift): cf. Prov. nepta, Catal. and Pg. neta, Sp. nieta:—pop. L. *nepta.]
1. † a. A grand-daughter, or more remote female descendant. Obs. b. A daughter of one's brother (brother-in-law) or sister (sister-in-law).
In older use, down to c 1600, the sense of ‘grand-daughter’ appears to have been common, but it is often difficult or impossible to make out which relationship is expressed by the word.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4160 Out of þe lond of spayne [he] come & adde ynome eleyne Þat was so vair þe kinges nece. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 233 Ho was me nerre þen aunte or nece. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 288 Good aventure, O bele nece, have ye Ful lightly founden. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 141 Þat ȝere deide Hilda, abbesse of Whitby... Sche was kyng Edwyn his nese [1432–50 doȝhter of the doȝhter of kynge Edwinus]. 1422 E.E. Wills (1882) 50 Ion Skydmore, my newewe... Also..Iane myn nece. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xvii. xix. 717 Kynge Pelles and Elyazar his sone the whiche were holy men and a mayde which was his nece. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. xii. 47, I, the nece of mychty Dardanus, And guide dochtir vnto the blissit Venus. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 261 b, What Augustus would saie when any mencion was made either of Julia his doughter, or Julia his nice. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Glas (Arb.) 71 To tire his wearie wife, His daughters and his niepces euerychone. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. (1634) 39 Taking two of Cyrus' daughters, and as many of his neeces for Wives. c 1657 Sir W. Mure Hist. Ho. Rowallane Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 254 Lord Hammiltoune who had to wife his Nice or sister daughter. 1673 Cave Prim. Chr. i. iii. 45 His neece by the sister's side. 1723 Gay Let. to Swift 3 Feb., Mr. Maxwell, who married a niece of Mr. Meredith's. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, Very cautious in her replies to his inquiries after her niece. 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 257 O by the bright head of my little niece, You were that Psyche. |
c. Euphemistically applied to the illegitimate daughter of an ecclesiastic. Cf. nephew 1 b.
| 1858 Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. vii. (1891) 161 Many a Holy Father's ‘niece’ Has softly smoothed the papal chair. |
d. niece-in-law, the wife of one's nephew. rare.
| a 1556 Cranmer Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 329 Sister and sister-in-law, aunt and aunt-in-law, niece and niece-in-law. |
† 2. A female relative. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7252 Seint edwardes nece þat of is fader kunde com. c 1375 Cursor M. 10891 (Fairf.), Thyne old nyce Elizabeth hath gon with child vj moneth. c 1386 Chaucer Shipman's T. 125 This monk bigan vp-on this wyf to stare, And seide, allas, my Nece; god forbede [etc.]. c 1400 Lay le Freine 288 Leman, he seyd, thou most lat be The abbesse thi nece, and go with me. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xi. 23 Ioachym thy fader at hame, And anna, my nese, and thi dame. 1508 Dunbar Flyting 540 Thy trew kynnismen, Antenor & Eneas, Throp thy nere nece, and austern Olibrius. |
† b. Used as a form of address to a woman. Obs.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 275 ‘Der nece’, he said,..‘Is my eyme dede, or hou the cace befell?’ |
† 3. A nephew. Obs. rare.
| c 1500 Lancelot 2200 The king..said, ‘Sir gawan, nece, why dois þow so? Ibid. 2720 The king..of his necis lyf was in disspare. a 1592 Greene Alphonsus ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 229/1 Seeking about the troops of Aragon, For to encounter with his traitorous niece. Ibid. iii. 236/1 Belinus, my most friendly niece. |
Hence ˈnieceless a., ˈnieceship.
| 1834 Southey Doctor lxxii, She was a descendant of..Japhet; she was allied to Ham, however, in another way besides this remote niece-ship. 1892 E. B. Hamley Let. in Shand Life (1895) II. xxxi. 303, I then had a niece and a cat to comfort me—now I am nieceless and catless. |