Travel5 mins ago
nieve
27 Answers
This is dialect for fist but I can not find it in any dictionary
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Burns uses it in his "Ode to a Haggis" in which he speaks disparagingly of the non-haggis eater (code for Sassenach!)
Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As ******** as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bluidy flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!
But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An' legs, an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.
It also comes up in the Scandinavian game hnefatafl - fist board game. The king piece is called the hnefi perhaps because he is "unarmed"; perhaps because that's how players chose sides in the game, picking one fist or the other in an effort to pick the king.
Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As ******** as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bluidy flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!
But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An' legs, an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.
It also comes up in the Scandinavian game hnefatafl - fist board game. The king piece is called the hnefi perhaps because he is "unarmed"; perhaps because that's how players chose sides in the game, picking one fist or the other in an effort to pick the king.
Thanks jno. My students appreciated your comment!!
It was indeed a clue to one of last weekends crosswords. We discuss each Monday and this final answer had stumped us but we found a link to this web site and we were given the answer "nieve" The students wanted to know the background to the origin of this dialect word but they could not find it in any dictionary.
It was indeed a clue to one of last weekends crosswords. We discuss each Monday and this final answer had stumped us but we found a link to this web site and we were given the answer "nieve" The students wanted to know the background to the origin of this dialect word but they could not find it in any dictionary.