Word.ws English Dictionary

neaf

neaf is the alternative form of nief.

Meaning of nief

Noun (1)

nief (plural niefs)

  1. (historical) A serf or bondsman born into servitude.
    • That is, because the girl was his nief, or bondwoman, the daughter of one of his villains1886, "The Fight at the Pass of Coleshill", The Red Dragon "Notes and Queries", page 471

Noun (2)

nief (plural niefs or nieves)

  1. (Ireland, Northern England, Scotland) A clenched hand; fist.
    • 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[…].1934, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Grey Granite, Polygon, published 2006, A Scots Quair, page 597
  2. (Ireland, Northern England, Scotland) A handful or fistful.
  3. (Ireland, Northern England, Scotland) The handgrip of a sword or oar.

Forms of neaf

pluralneafs
pluralneaves

Questions about neaf

What is neaf the alternative form of?
Neaf is the alternative form of nief.

Words near neaf in the dictionary

  1. NEACP
  2. NEACPs
  3. Nead
  4. Neades
  5. Neads
  6. neaf
  7. NEAFL
  8. neafs
  9. Neagh
  10. Neagle
  11. Neagles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: neaf (page history and authors); nief (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “neaf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/neaf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.