nep meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

nep

verbalso spelled Nep

/nɛp/

Etymology Perhaps a variant of nap for knap, from Middle English knep, kneppe, knappe, a conflation of Old English cnep, cnæp, cnæpp (“top, knop, summit”) and Old Norse knappr (“knob”), both from Proto-Germanic *knappaz, *knappô (“knob”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnebʰ- (“to press, tighten”), from Proto-Indo-European *gen- (“to pinch, squeeze, bend, press together, ball”). Compare also Old Norse hnappr (“button”). Related to knob.

1

UK, Dialectal Of cotton: to form knots.

Nep

noun

1

Derogatory, Ethnic, Informal, Offensive, Slur Nepali

Nepali job. Hundred and one per cent a Nep job. You've seen some of the crime they're responsible for. I tell you, these guys are fucking crazy. […] Ninety-nine per cent of this kind of crime, at least in Delhi, is done by Neps.2013, Aatish Taseer, The Temple Goers:

nep

noun

Etymology From Middle English neppe, nepe, nepte, nept, from Old English nepte, nefte, from Latin nepeta. Compare Dutch neppe, nippe (“catnip”). Doublet of nepeta.

1

Usually Catmint, catnip; Nepeta cataria.

Nep is generally used for women to procure their courses, being taken inwardly or outwardly, either alone or with other convenient herbs in a decoction to bathe them, of sit over the hot fumes thereof.1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio, published 2007, page 201:

nep

noun

Etymology Perhaps a variant of nap for knap, from Middle English knep, kneppe, knappe, a conflation of Old English cnep, cnæp, cnæpp (“top, knop, summit”) and Old Norse knappr (“knob”), both from Proto-Germanic *knappaz, *knappô (“knob”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnebʰ- (“to press, tighten”), from Proto-Indo-European *gen- (“to pinch, squeeze, bend, press together, ball”). Compare also Old Norse hnappr (“button”). Related to knob.

1

A knot in a fibre.

The neps appear as small dense areas or spots when compared to the surrounding fibers.1987, Paula Simmons, Spinning and weaving with wool, published 1977, →ISBN, page 130:

Derived terms: neppy

nep

noun

Etymology Clipping of nepotist.

1

US, Derogatory, Slang One who engages in nepotism, usually to the one who benefits from it.