▪ I. ˈnicher, n.
[Cf. next.]
A neigh; a laugh.
| a 1791 Blind Harper of Lochmaben xv. in Child Ballads IV. 18/1 There she [a mare] gave mony a nicher and sneer. 1844 Richardson's Local Historian's Table-bk., Leg. Div. II. 137 There was sic a queer eiry nicher, as o' some hundreds o' creatures laughin'. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 249 A queer kind o' nicher o' a lauch. |
▪ II. nicher, v. Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈnɪxə(r))
[Imitative: cf. neigher v. and nicker v.]
intr. (and trans.) To neigh; also transf. to laugh loudly.
| a 1700 Johnie Armstrang in Ever-Green (1761) I. 192 These milk whyt Steids, That prance and nicher at a Speir. 1806 R. Jamieson Ld. Randal xxvii. in Pop. Ballads & Songs I. 169 Lord Randal's steed he nicher'd loud. 1822 Scott Nigel xxxi, Ye needna nicher that gait.., e'en though it was a pleasing jest. 1848 C. Brontë J. Eyre (1857) 199 The old crone nichered a laugh under her bonnet and bandage. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss-Hags xiv, Above us the fitful, flying winds nichered and laughed like mocking fiends. |