Word.ws English Dictionary

niefs

niefs is the plural 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.

Questions about niefs

What is niefs the plural of?
Niefs is the plural of nief.

Words near niefs in the dictionary

  1. Niedzwieckis
  2. nief
  3. Niefang
  4. niefling
  5. nieflings
  6. niefs
  7. Nieheim
  8. Niehoff
  9. Niehoffs
  10. NIEHS
  11. Niekamp

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: niefs (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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