Fist vs Nief - What's the difference?

fist | nief |


As nouns the difference between fist and nief

is that fist is the act of breaking wind; fise or fist can be hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward while nief is a serf or bondsman born into servitude or nief can be (chiefly|scotland|ireland|northern england) a fist.

As a verb fist

is to break wind or fist can be to strike with the fist.

fist

English

(Webster 1913)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) fisten, fiesten, from (etyl) .

Verb

(en verb)
  • To break wind.
    • Derived terms
    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of breaking wind; fise.
  • A puffball.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) fist, from (etyl) 'five'. More at five.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward
    • The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.
  • (printing) the pointing hand symbol
  • (ham radio) the characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code
  • (slang) a person's characteristic handwriting
  • A group of men.
  • The talons of a bird of prey.
  • * Spenser
    • More light than culver in the falcon's fist .
  • (informal) An attempt at something.
  • * 2005 , Darryl N. Davis, Visions of Mind: Architectures for Cognition and Affect (page 144)
    • With the rise of cognitive neuroscience, the time may be coming when we can make a reasonable fist of mapping down from an understanding of the functional architecture of the mind to the structural architecture of the brain.
    Synonyms
    * bunch of fives * fist-size * ductus
    Derived terms
    * fisty * iron fist * hand over fist * fistful * rule with an iron fist
    Related terms
    * fisticuff * tight-fisted

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To strike with the fist.
    • ...may not score a point with his open hand(s), but may score a point by fisting the ball.'' Damian Cullen. "Running the rule." ''The Irish Times 18 Aug 2003, pg. 52.
  • To close (the hand) into a fist.
  • * 1969 , Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor , Penguin 2011, p. 29:
    • He noticed Ada's trick of hiding her fingernails by fisting her hand or stretching it with the palm turned upward when helping herself to a biscuit.
  • To grip with a fist.
  • * 1851 ,
    • I am an officer; but, how I wish I could fist a bit of old-fashioned beef in the fore-castle, as I used to when I was before the mast.
  • (slang) To fist-fuck.

    • See also

    * knuckle * punch

    Anagrams

    * *

    nief

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A serf or bondsman born into servitude.
  • * 1886 , "The Fight at the Pass of Coleshill", The Red Dragon "Notes and Queries", page 471
    • That is, because the girl was his nief , or bondwoman, the daughter of one of his villains
    Alternative forms
    * neif

    Etymology 2

    From Old Norse hnefi'', ''nefi , of unknown origin.

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (chiefly, Scotland, Ireland, Northern England) A fist.
  • *1934 , (Lewis Grassic Gibbon), Grey Granite'', Polygon 2006 (''A Scots Quair ), p. 597:
  • *:Ake thought if ever he was walking alone on a dark-like night and Jimmy came on him, he with his bare nieves and Jimmy with a knife, he'd stand as much chance of getting home safe as a celluloid cat that had strayed into hell….
  • * 1989 , (Anthony Burgess), The Devil's Mode :
    • Nestorius exploded at that and hit out. He roared and dismissed the class, hitting out with his old mottled gnarled niefs .
  • * 2004 , Jeff Silverman, The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told , p. 160:
    • "But t' Maister can stop and hit rarely. Happen he'll mak' him joomp when he gets his nief upon him."
    Alternative forms
    * neif * nieve

    Anagrams

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