neger Now north. dial. and Sc.
(ˈniːgə(r))
Forms: 6–7 (9) neager, 6 (9) neeger, 7 negar, 7, 9 negre, 9 negur, 7– neger.
[ad. F. nègre, ad. Sp. negro Negro. So Du., G., Da., Sw. neger.]
1. A Negro, esp. in disparaging use.
| 1587 MS. Robert Leng (Brit. Mus.), There were also in her 400 neegers, whome they had taken to make slaves. 1599 Minsheu s.v. Ca{cced}uéla, Vpon Moores or Neagers, and on other malefactors. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 126 A dutch man of warre that sold vs twenty Negars. 1686 in Annals of Albany (1850) II. 91 The court have ordered ye said neger Hercules to be whipt throw ye towne. 1729 Gay Polly iii. Wks. (1772) 197, I don't see..why we should be commanded by a Neger. 1794 A. M. Bennett Ellen I. 17 She was sure the strangers were negers. 1829 B. Hall Trav. N. Amer. II. 77 Entering into social intercourse with a ‘negur.’ |
| attrib. and Comb. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes 51 The out⁓ward medicine is a thing they call Negre-oyle, and 'tis made in Barbary. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 461 Sporting themselves with negre nosed Dogs. 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2501/4 A Neager Boy, about 14 years old. 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son II. 96 As to poor negur man, I saw his carcase to-day. |
2. (See
quot.)
| 1848 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IX. ii. 565 These aphides have their enemies in the..ladybird, and its progeny the neger. |
Hence
† ˈnegerous a., barbarous.
ˈnegery [
ad. Du. negerij], a Negro village or compound.
| 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy vii. lxxix, Which to prevent the Negerous Lady takes The young Absyrtes. 1814 W. Brown Hist. Propag. Chr. App. (1823) 708, In some of the negerys the people had still retained their idols. |