Nether vs Mether - What's the difference?
nether | mether |
Lower; under.
Lying beneath, or conceived as lying beneath, the Earth’s surface.
* 1873 , Mark Twain, The Gilded Age , page187:
To bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.
To constrict; straiten; confine; restrict; suppress; lay low; keep under; press in upon; vex; harass; oppress.
To pinch or stunt with cold or hunger; check in growth; shrivel; straiten.
To shrink or huddle, as with cold; be shivery; tremble.
To depreciate; disparage; undervalue.
Oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence.
(mining) A trouble; a fault or dislocation in a seam of coal.
(dialect) Four in the old counting system of Northern England.
(historical, Ireland) A communal drinking vessel used in Gaelic times for drinking mead. It had squared sides and one drank from a corner. Also, a trophy in this shape.
* 1912 James Henry Cousins, "The Loving Cup" I (
* 1912 "Our Lady Correspondent" "Fashions at Leopardstown" The Irish Times 27 August 1912, p.8:
As nouns the difference between nether and mether
is that nether is oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence while mether is (historical|ireland) a communal drinking vessel used in gaelic times for drinking mead it had squared sides and one drank from a corner also, a trophy in this shape.As an adjective nether
is lower; under.As an adverb nether
is down; downward.As a verb nether
is to bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.nether
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) nether, nethere, nithere, from (etyl) .Adjective
- The disappointed child’s nether lip quivered.
- The nether regions.
- When one thinks of the tremendous forces of the upper and the nether world which play for the mastery of the soul of a woman during the few years in which she passes from plastic girlhood to the ripe maturity of womanhood,
Derived terms
* netherdom * nether region * Netherlands * nethermore * nethermost * netherness * netherty * netherward * netherworldEtymology 2
Alteration of earlier nither, from (etyl) nitheren, from (etyl) . See above.Alternative forms
* (l)Verb
(en verb)Derived terms
* (l)Noun
(en noun)Anagrams
*mether
English
(Yan Tan Tethera)Etymology 1
From (etyl) numerals.Alternative forms
* (l) (qualifier)Cardinal numeral
(head)Derived terms
* mether-a-dick * mether-a-bumfitEtymology 2
Related to (m), (m)Alternative forms
* medar, meatherNoun
(en noun)Etain the Beloved and Other Poems , p.84) (Maunsel & Co):
- I raise to you, O Queen, this Loving Cup, this Mether ,
- Filled with Mead
- Made from honey of the heather
- Lord Herbert and Mr. Luke White were to be seen on the roof pouring water down the chimney, while the Marchioness of Ormonde was seen carrying the Regimental Cup (the silver Irish mether to be competed for) from the scene of the fire.
References
* P. W. Joyce A Social History of Ancient Ireland (Longmans, Green, and Co; 1903)Vol.2 Chap.XX p.75* electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (RIA)
M col.117 lin.43English cardinal numbers ----