658 N E A 
adje&ive.—Thou art near in their mouth, and far from 
their reins. Jer. xii. 2. 
He ferv’d great Heftor, and was ever near, 
Not with his trumpet only, but his fpear. Dryden's JEn. 
Within a little.—He that paid a bufhel of wheat per acre, 
would pay now about twenty-five pounds per annum ; 
which would be near about the yearly value of the land. 
Locke.—By relation or alliance: 
The earl of Armagnac, near knit to Charles, 
A man of great authority in France, 
Proffers his only daughter to your grace 
In marriage. ShakeJ'peare's Hen. VI. P. I. 
NEAR, adj. Not diftant in place, or time. [Sometimes 
it is doubtful whether near be an adjeftive or adverb.] — 
This city is near to flee unto. Gen. xix. 20. 
Whether they nearer liv’d to the bleft times, 
When man’s Redeemer bled for human crimes ; 
Whether the hermits of the defart fraught 
With living pra&ice, by example taught. Harte. 
Advanced towards the end of an enterprife or difquifi- 
tion.—Unlefs they add fomewhatelfe to define more cer¬ 
tainly what ceremonies fliall Hand for beft, in fucb fort 
that all churches in the world fhould know them to be 
the belt, and fo know them that there may not remain 
any queftion about this point; we are not a whit the 
nearer for that they have hitherto faid. Hooker. —Direft ; 
ftraight; not winding.—Taught to live the uearejl way. 
Blilton. 
To meafure life, learn then betimes, and know 
Tow’rd folid good what leads the neare/t way. Milton. 
Clofe; not rambling ; obfervant of ftyle or manner of 
the thing copied.—Hannibal Caro’s, in the Italian, is the 
neare/l, the moll poetical, and the molt fonorous, of any 
tranflation of the EEneid. Yet, though he takes the ad¬ 
vantage of blank verfe, he commonly allows two lines for 
one in Virgil, and does not always hit his fenfe. Dry den. 
—Clofely related.—If one fliall approach to any that is 
near of kin to him. Lev. xviii. 6.—Intimate ; familiar ; 
admitted to confidence.—If I had afuit to mafter Shallow, 
I would humour his men with the imputation of being 
wear their mafter. S/tahefpeare .—Touching; prefling; af- 
fefting; dear.—He could never judge that it w'as better 
to be deceived than not, in a matter of fo great and near 
concernment. Locke. 
Every minute of his being thrufts 
Againft my near'Jl of life. S/iakefpeare's Macbeth. 
Parfimonious, inclining to covetonfnefs; as, a near man. 
Near Hand. Clofely; without afting, or waiting at 
a diftance.—The entring near hand into the manner of 
performance of that which is under deliberation, hath 
overturned the opinion of the poflibility or impoflibility. 
Bacon's Iloly War. 
NEAR, v. a. [naederen, Teut.] To approach ; to 
be near to : 
Give up your key 
Unto that lord that neares you. Heyivood's Royal King. 
To NEAR, v. n. To draw near. A naval expreflion 
as, The veflels neared faft ; i. e. drew near to each other. 
NEAR'CHUS, one of Alexander’s captains, was em¬ 
ployed by that conqueror in conducing his fleet from 
India, by the Ocean to the Perfian Gulf. This expedi¬ 
tion proved fo tedious and fatiguing, that the leader, on 
his return, was not recognifed by his friends till he had 
made himfelf know'll. His fervice was fo much efteemed, 
that he was crowned with a garland by Alexander at 
Sufia; and, wherever he went through the camp, flowers 
were thrown upon him. He is fuppofed to have been the 
fame perfon who, after Alexander’s death, became pre¬ 
fect of Lycia and Pamphilia. Nearclius is reckoned among 
N E A 
the hiftorians of Alexander, and is referred to asfuch by 
Strabo, Suidas, and Arrian ; the latter of whom has co¬ 
pied much from him in his “ Indica.” The relation of 
his voyage is extant, and is a very curious and valuable 
piece. It is pubiiftied among the Geographi Minores, by 
Hudfon. Gen. Bing. 
NEAR'DA. See Naarda, p. 498. 
NE'ARLY, adv. At no great diftance ; not remotely. 
—Many are the enemies of the prierthood : they are dili¬ 
gent to obferve whatever may nearly or remotely bletnifli 
it. Atterbury. —Clofely ; preflingly.—It concerneth them 
nearly, to preferve that government which they had trufted 
with their money. Swift. 
Nearly it now concerns us to be fure 
Of our omnipotence. Milton's P. L. 
In a niggardly manner. 
NE'ARNESS, _/.' Clofenefs; not remotenefs; approach. 
—Delicate fculptures be helped with nearnefs, and grofs 
with diftance ; which was well feen in the controverfy 
between Phidias and Alcmeiies about the ftatute of Venus. 
Wotton.— Alliance of blood or affection.—Whether there 
be any fecret paflages of lympathy between perfons of 
near blood; as, parents and children, brothers and filters. 
There be many reports in hiftory, that, upon the death of 
perfons of Inch nearnefs, men have had an inw'ard feeling 
of it. Bacon's Nat. Hijli —-Tendency to avarice; caution 
of expenfe. — It fliews in the king a nearnefs, but yet 
with a.kind of juftnefs. So thefe little grains of gold and 
filver helped not a little to make up tlie great heap. Ba¬ 
con's Hen. VII. 
NEAT, f. [neat, neat:en, mten, Sax. naut, Icel. The 
Scotch ufe noiLt and null ; and the former is old Englifh 
alio: “ Goodly nont, both fat and bigge with bone.” 
Churchyard’s Worth, of Wales, 1578. And fo nowt-herd 
is in the north of England a neat-herd. Naut is ufed in 
the Iile of Man.] Black cattle; oxen. It is commonly 
ufed colleftively.—Smoak preferveth flefli; as we fee in 
bacon, neats' tongues, and martlemas beef. Bacon's Nat 
Hi ft. 
The fteer, the heifer, and the calf. 
Are all call’d neat. Skakefpeare's Winter's Tale. 
A Angle cow or ox.—What fay you to a neat's foot ? 
Shakefpeare. 
Who both by his calf and his lamb will be known, 
May well kill a neat and a flieep of his own. Tujfer. 
NEAT, adj. \_net, Fr. nilidus, Lat.] Elegant, but with¬ 
out dignity.—The thoughts are plain, yet admit a little 
quicknel’s and paflion ; the expreflion humble, yet as pure 
as the language will afford ; neat, but not florid; eafy, 
and yet lively. Pope. —Cleanly.—If you were to fee her, 
you would wonder what poor body it was that was fo fur- 
prifingly neat and clean. Law. — Pure; unadulterated; 
unmingled : now ufed only in the cant of trade, but for¬ 
merly more extenfive: 
Tuns of fweet old wines, along the wall 
Neat and divine drink. Chapman's Odyjfey. 
NEAT-IIAND'ED, adj. Cleanly; neat in drefling 
food : 
Herbs and other country-mefles. 
Which neat-handed Phyllis drefles. Milton's Allegro. 
NE'AT-HERD, J\ A cowkeeper; one who has the 
care of black cattle : 
The fwains and tardy neat-herds came, and laft 
Menalcas, wet with beating winter malt. Dryden. 
NEAT-LAN'D, J'. A law term ; land let out to the 
yeomanry. 
NEAT-WEI'GHT, J\ The weight of any commodity 
without the package or cafic. 
NEATES, a town of North-Carolina: twenty-three 
miles fouth-weft of Exeter. 
NEATH, 
