Lithe vs Nithe - What's the difference?
lithe | nithe |
(obsolete) To go.
(obsolete) Mild; calm.
slim but not skinny
*
Capable of being easily bent; pliant; flexible; limber
* 1861 , , page 125
(obsolete) To become calm.
(obsolete) To make soft or mild; soften; alleviate; mitigate; lessen; smooth; palliate.
(obsolete) To give ear; attend; listen.
To listen to.
(Scotland) Shelter.
* 1932 , (Lewis Grassic Gibbon), Sunset Song :
In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between lithe and nithe
is that lithe is (obsolete) to give ear; attend; listen while nithe is (obsolete) envy; hatred.As nouns the difference between lithe and nithe
is that lithe is (scotland) shelter while nithe is (obsolete) envy; hatred.As a verb lithe
is (obsolete) to go or lithe can be (obsolete) to become calm or lithe can be (obsolete) to give ear; attend; listen.As an adjective lithe
is (obsolete) mild; calm.lithe
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) lithen, from (etyl) . See also (l), (l).Verb
Etymology 2
From (etyl) lithe, from (etyl) .Adjective
(er)- ''lithe weather
- lithe body
- She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe , polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
- the elephant’s lithe proboscis.
- … she danced with a kind of passionate fierceness, her lithe body undulating with flexuous grace …
Synonyms
* lithesome, lissome,Etymology 3
From (etyl) lithen, from (etyl) .Verb
(head)Etymology 4
From (etyl) lithen, from (etyl) . More at (l).Verb
(lith)Etymology 5
Origin uncertain; perhaps an alteration of (lewth).Noun
(en noun)- So Cospatric got him the Pict folk to build a strong castle there in the lithe of the hills, with the Grampians dark and bleak behind it, and he had the Den drained and he married a Pict lady and got on her bairns and he lived there till he died.