near

Etymology

From Middle English nere, ner, from Old English nēar (“nearer”, comparative of nēah (“nigh”)), influenced by Old Norse nær (“near”), both originating from Proto-Germanic *nēhwiz (“nearer”), comparative of the adverb *nēhw (“near”), from the adjective *nēhwaz, ultimately from Pre-Proto-Germanic *h₂nḗḱwos, a lengthened-grade adjective derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”). Cognate with Old Frisian niār (“nearer”), Dutch naar (“to, towards”), German näher (“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”), as opposed to nigh, which continues the inherited West Germanic adjective, like 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”).

adj

1. Physically close.
   I can't see near objects very clearly without my glasses.
   Stay near at all times.
2. Close in time.
   The end is near.
3. Closely connected or related.
   The deceased man had no near relatives.
4. Close to one's interests, affection, etc.; intimate; dear.
   A matter of near consequence to me.
   a near friend
5. Close to anything followed or imitated; not free, loose, or rambling.
   a version near to the original
6. So as barely to avoid or pass injury or loss; close; narrow.
   a near escape
7. Approximate, almost.
   The two words are near synonyms.
8. (Britain, in relation to a vehicle) On the side nearest to the kerb (the left-hand side if one drives on the left).
   The near front wheel came loose.
9. (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
10. (obsolete) Immediate; direct; close; short.
11. (now rare) Stingy; parsimonious.
    Don't be near with your pocketbook.
12. (programming, not comparable) Within the currently selected segment in a segmented memory architecture.
    a near pointer

adv

1. At or towards a position close in space or time.
2. Nearly; almost.
   He was near unconscious when I found him.
   I jumped into the near-freezing water.
   I near ruptured myself trying to move the piano.
   […] he hears for certain that the Queen-Mother is about and hath near finished a peace with France […] 1666, Samuel Pepys, Diary and Correspondence, published 1867
   Sir John Friend had very near completed a regiment of horse. 1825, David Hume, Tobias George Smollett, The History of England, page 263
   Peter ran after them as fast as his legs would carry him, but at last he had only one of the hares left, and when this was gone, he was very near burst with running. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 169
   Thinking about those pounds and pence, I near forgot my wound. 2003, Owen Parry, Honor's Kingdom, page 365
   "I damn near forgot." He pulled an envelope from his jacket. 2004, Jimmy Buffett, A Salty Piece of Land, page 315
   The fire was almost dead, the chamber near dark. 2006, Juliet Marillier, The Dark Mirror, page 377

prep

1. Physically close to, in close proximity to.
   There are habitable planets orbiting many of the stars near our Sun.
   He entered the inn, and asking for dinner, unbuckled his wallet, and sat down to rest himself near the door. 1820, Mary Shelley, Maurice
   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. 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space
   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. 2013-08-16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8
2. Close to in time.
   The voyage was near completion.
3. Close to in nature or degree.
   His opinions are near the limit of what is acceptable.
   There was no way Brín felt anything anywhere near what I felt for him. He saw me as a friend. 2019, Emma Lea, A Royal Enticement

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To come closer to; to approach.
   The ship nears the land.
   We started back in the same conditions, and for part of the journey ran through semi-darkness, but the sun appeared once again as we neared London. 1964 May, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Modern Railways, pages 331–332
   As he neared a bridge over the East Coast Main Line near Great Heck, he lost control. His Land Rover left the carriageway and veered onto the hard shoulder before biting into the grass verge. February 24 2021, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 38

noun

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