neigh

NAY/neɪ/

Pluralneighs

Verbneighs, neighing, neighed

4 meanings of neigh

Practice

1
nouncountable
The high-pitched call produced by a horse.
A sharp neigh echoed across the field as the stallion reared.
The mare answered with a low neigh before trotting toward the fence.
Similarwhinny, nicker
2
verbintransitive
Of a horse, to produce its characteristic high-pitched cry.
The horses neigh loudly whenever the stable doors swing open at dawn.
Frightened by the thunder, the mare began to neigh.
Similarwhinny, nicker
Note
An old Germanic verb: Old English hnǣġan, from Proto-Germanic *hnajjaną, which already meant just this. English has lost the opening hn- cluster. Icelandic hneggja and Swedish gnägga still keep a version of it, while dialectal Dutch neien sounds much like the English. The horse is the natural subject, and the progressive comes easily, as in Asbjørnsen's Folk and Fairy Tales (1886): "found him neighing and waiting for his hay."
3
verbintransitive
To produce a sound resembling the cry of a horse.
The rusty hinge seemed to neigh each time the gate swung open.
Excited by the parade, the costumed kids neigh and paw at the ground.
Similarwhinny

Less common meaning

4
verbobsolete
To express scorn by scoffing or sneering at someone.
The lords neigh at every plea the poor man dares to make.
She begged them not to neigh at his clumsy verses.
Note
An insult from the early seventeenth century, now out of use. In John Fletcher's Wit Without Money (c. 1614), a character "neighed at his Nakedness," mocking a poor man's cold and poverty. Like sneer, it takes at before its target. The image likens derision to a horse's loud cry. Today a reader would hear only the horse's cry, so the word belongs in period pastiche rather than present-day prose.

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Origin

This word comes from Middle English neyen, from Old English hnǣġan, going back to Proto-Germanic *hnajjaną ("to neigh"). It is related to Swedish gnägga and Icelandic hneggja.