near

From Middle English nere, ner, from Old English nēar (“nearer”, comparative of nēah, "nigh"), influenced by Old Norse nǣr (“near”), both originating from Proto-Germanic *nēhwiz (“nearer”), comparative of the adverb *nēhw (“near”). Cognate with Old Frisian niār (“nearer”), Dutch naar (“to, towards”), Old High German nāhōr (“nearer”), Danish nær (“near, close”), Norwegian nær (“near, close”) Swedish nära (“near, close”). See also nigh.

Near appears to be derived from (or at the very least influenced by) the North Germanic languages; compare Danish nær (“near, close”), Norwegian nær (“near, close”) Swedish nära (“near, close”), and nigh from the West Germanic ones, and Dutch na (“close, near”), German nah (“close, near, nearby”), Luxembourgish no (“nearby, near, close”). Both, however, are ultimately derived from the same Proto-Germanic root: *nēhw (“near, close”).

• (UK) enPR: nîr, IPA^(key): /nɪə(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: nîr, IPA^(key): /nɪɹ/
• (near–square merger) IPA^(key): /nɛə/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)

near (comparative nearer, superlative nearest)

1. Physically close.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden

     He served great Hector, and was ever near, / Not with his trumpet only, but his spear.

2. Closely connected or related.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Bible, Leviticus xviii. 12

     She is thy father's near kinswoman.

3. Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; intimate; dear.

   a near friend

4. Close to anything followed or imitated; not free, loose, or rambling.

   a version near to the original

5. So as barely to avoid or pass injury or loss; close; narrow.

   a near escape

6. (of an event) Approaching.

   The end is near.

7. Approximate, almost.

   The two words are near synonyms.

8. (dated) Next to the driver, when he is on foot; (US) on the left of an animal or a team.

   the near ox; the near leg

9. (obsolete) Immediate; direct; close; short.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     the nearest way

10. (obsolete, slang) Stingy; parsimonious.

• (physically close): close; see also Thesaurus:near

• (physically close): remote; see also Thesaurus:distant

near (comparative nearer, superlative nearest)

1. Having a small intervening distance with regard to something.

   I'm near-sighted.

2. (colloquial) nearly
   • 1666, Samuel Pepys, Diary and Correspondence, (1867)

     […] he hears for certain that the Queen-Mother is about and hath near finished a peace with France […]

   • 1825, David Hume, Tobias George Smollett, The History of England, page 263

     Sir John Friend had very near completed a regiment of horse.

   • 2003, Owen Parry, Honor's Kingdom, page 365

     Thinking about those pounds and pence, I near forgot my wound.

   • 2004, Jimmy Buffett, A Salty Piece of Land page 315

     "I damn near forgot." He pulled an envelope from his jacket.

   • 2006, Juliet Marillier, The Dark Mirror, page 377

     The fire was almost dead, the chamber near dark.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Is there a supermarket near here?

     Audio (US)

     (file)

• nearsighted

near

1. Close to, in close proximity to.

   There are habitable planets orbiting many of the stars near our Sun.

   • 1820, Mary Shelley, Maurice, or The Fisher's Cot:

     He entered the inn, and asking for dinner, unbuckled his wallet, and sat down to rest himself near the door.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.

   • 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space:

     It shied, balked, and whinnied, and in the end he could do nothing but drive it into the yard while the men used their own strength to get the heavy wagon near enough the hayloft for convenient pitching.

   • 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:

     Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.

2. Close to in time.

   The voyage was near completion.

Joan Maling (1983) shows that near is best analysed as an adjective with which the use of to is optional, rather than a preposition. It has the comparative and the superlative, and it can be followed by enough. The use of to however is usually British.

• far from

near (third-person singular simple present nears, present participle nearing, simple past and past participle neared)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To come closer to; to approach.

   The ship nears the land.

• near on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• para-
• nigh

near (plural nears)

1. The left side of a horse or of a team of horses pulling a carriage etc.

• near side

• off side

• nearside

• Joan Maling (1983), Transitive Adjectives: A Case of Categorial Reanalysis, in F. Henry and B. Richards (eds.), Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles, vol.1, pp. 253-289.

• Arne, EARN, Nera, eRNA, earn, erna, nare, rean

near

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of neō

near

1. 2nd person singular present indicative form of neart
2. 3rd person singular present indicative form of neart
3. 3rd person plural present indicative form of neart
4. 2nd person singular imperative form of neart
5. (with the particle lai) 3rd person singular imperative form of neart
6. (with the particle lai) 3rd person plural imperative form of neart