▪ I. † nig, n.1 Obs. rare.
[Of obscure origin.
Agrees in meaning with Sw. njugg (dial. nugg, nygg) and with Icel. hnögg- (Norw. nögg), but there is no obvious connexion in form or history with these. Cf. also Norw. and Sw. dial. nigla, to live sparingly, to niggle.]
A niggardly or mean person.
| a 1300 Vision of Paul (MS. Laud 108) in Herrig Archiv LII. 36 He was an hokerere,..Foul nig and hard in al is liue. c 1400 Plowman's Tale 757 Some of them been hard nigges; And some of hem been proude and gaie. 1570 Levins Manip. 118/39 A Nigge, parca mulier. 1678 Phillips (ed. 4) Suppl., Nig, a miserly, sordid, pinch-gut fellow. |
▪ II. nig, n.2 dial. and slang.
[Of obscure origin.]
(See quots.)
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Nig, the Clippings of Money. 1853 N. & Q. 1st Ser. VII. 366/2 In Essex, nig signifies a piece. |
▪ III. nig, n.3
an abbreviation of nigger. Now only in derogatory use.
| c 1832 T. D. Rice Jim Crow x, De Nigs in ole Virginny Be so black dey shine. 1840 Picayune (New Orleans) 20 Sept. 2/2 Two little nigs..had a most scientific set-to at the corner. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 12 Aug., As through the crowded Wall-street pass'd A nig who bore..A green⁓back banner. 1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 43 Treat your servants as fellow-creatures, not as ‘nigs’—a term too often applied..to the Indian natives. 1905 E. W. Pringle Woman Rice Planter 160 Her manner is what the ‘nigs’ call ‘stiff’. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee xvi. 245 He never wipes the glass slobbered over by dozens of dirty nigs! Gosh, it's a good place to get out of! 1939 J. Cary Mister Johnson 162 You don't know wot it costs us, you nigs, to tidy up things for you. 1961 C. Willock Death in Covert i. 11 Like many of these nigs, he could shoot. Dammit, back home in steaming wogland he probably did nothing else. 1974 R. Gadney Something worth fighting For xii. 85 Judd read National Front puts Britain First. Someone had scribbled Nigs Out. |
▪ IV. † nig, v.1 Obs. rare—1.
[Cf. nig a.]
intr. To be mean or niggardly.
| 1559 J. Aylmer Harborowe M iv b, By withholding thy hande, and nigging, to make her not hable to kepe out thine ennemy. |
▪ V. † nig, v.2 Obs. slang.
To clip money.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Nigging, Clipping. |