ˈnetherward(s, adv. Now rare.
Forms: 1 niþerweardes, nyþerwerd, -wyrd; 3 niðer-, neþer-, noþer-, 4–5 nethire-, 4– netherward(s.
[f. nether adv.2 + -wards).]
Downwards. Also (in form netherward) as adj.
| c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. viii. 32 Unᵹerece..eode all siu suner..niþer-weardes in sae. c 1000 ælfric Gram. (Z.) 238 Deorsum versum, nyðerwerd. a 1100 in Napier O.E. Glosses i. 3968 In præceps, nyþerwyrd. c 1220 Bestiary 561 Fro ðe noule niðerward ne is ȝe [= the mermaid] no man like. a 1250 Owl & Night. 144 Þeos vle.. heold hire eyen neþerward [v.r. noþerward]. a 1400–50 Alexander 5048 Moves ȝow to þe nethire-ward. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7717 Fro the Nauell netherward he was an able horse. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §215 (1810) 224 Netherward to Great Lynd. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 293 Chafe him from above nether-wards. 1865–6 W. Whitman When Lilacs last in Door-Yard Bloom'd 6, I watch'd where you pass'd and was lost in the netherward black of the night. 1878 Hardy Ret. Native I. vii. 149 But celestial imperiousness, love, wrath, and fervour had proved to be somewhat thrown away on netherward Egdon. 1894 Du Maurier Trilby i, Clad in the grey overcoat of a French infantry soldier, continued netherwards by a short striped petticoat. |