neigh

verb

neighed; neighing; neighs

intransitive verb

: to make the prolonged cry of a horse
neigh noun

Examples of neigh in a Sentence

We heard the horses neighing in the stable. the horses neighed when the rider came into the barn
Recent Examples on the Web The band joked about adding a neighing horse to the intro, and Rimes quickly inserted that sound from his plug-in collection. Tom Roland, Billboard, 30 Jan. 2024 Laughing, always laughing—at the dickey birds hopping in the tree branches, at the urchin who was burned to a crisp by an angry mob, at the slandering neighbor woman who got turned into a neighing donkey. Okwiri Oduor, Harper's Magazine, 15 June 2022 Other possible answers for this guess included: feign, neigh, reign, and weigh. Erik Kain, Forbes, 17 May 2022 No such juvenilia intrudes upon the rather more adult-ish proceedings of the new film The Wanting Mare, in which horses neigh and stamp at the margins of a bleak, majestic world. Jason Kehe, Wired, 12 Feb. 2021 Horse trailers lined up in rows in Island Grove Regional Park, their passengers neighing indiscriminately. John Aguilar, The Denver Post, 28 July 2019 Goats and sheep staying in the barn bleated, and horses neighed as the crowd of people grew. David Anderson, baltimoresun.com, 23 July 2019 There in the the headquarters of Togo’s secret police — the notorious Research and Intelligence Service — the captives were beaten, waterboarded and forced to kneel and neigh like horses. Siobhan O'Grady, latimes.com, 4 June 2018 Across the barn, another horse was getting new shoes and neighed. Jason Nark, Philly.com, 23 Mar. 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'neigh.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English neyen, from Old English hnǣgan; akin to Middle High German nēgen to neigh

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of neigh was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near neigh

Cite this Entry

“Neigh.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neigh. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

neigh

verb
: to make the loud drawn-out cry of a horse
neigh noun

More from Merriam-Webster on neigh

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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