Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Nere, Neir(e, n. Also: ner, nyeir, neer, near(e. [ME. (? chiefly north. and midl.) and e.m.E. nere (a 1300), neere, appar. OE. *néora or *néore: cf. MDu. niere fem., MLG. nêre, ON. nýra neut.] A kidney. Also attrib. with cres (= grease). a1400 Leg. S. xvii. 260.
In the neris Ib. xxii. 12.
It brakis the stane That man in bledyr ore nere has tane 1533 Boece ii. viii. 73.
To the wricht the neris with twa schort ribbis Ib. ix. xvi. 330.
Fra leggis fete and neris … sprang the attry worsum 1535 Stewart 2954.
Neiris 1540 Lynd. Sat. 3026.
For purging of thir neirs 1549 Compl. 67/7.
Tansay that is gude to puirge the neiris 1550 (c 1650) Dundee B. Laws 12. 1580 Skeyne Descr. Well A iij b. 1581-1623 James VI Poems I. 158/857.
The stonie grauell doth the neares On other part inuade 1590 Crim. Trials I. ii. 197.
Rattoun poysoun … to mix it with ane kiddis neir 1595 Duncan App. Etym.
Ren, the neiere 1663 Brodie Diary 288.
My pain off gravell in my neers and loinsattrib. 1444 Aberd. B. Rec. I. ii.
That na fleshowar … tak out of ony mutoune the neris or the nerecres 1526 Stirling B. Rec. I. 27.
Na nyeiris na nyeircres be tane out of the scheip