Meanings
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1
verb
northern British and Scots dialect: to give a soft, suppressed, or sniggering laugh
The disguised woman nichered a laugh beneath her bonnet.
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2
verb
Scots dialect: to neigh or whinny softly
The pony nichered when it heard grain poured into the trough.
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3
noun
northern British and Scots dialect: a suppressed laugh or a horse's soft neigh
A quiet nicher came from the listeners at the back of the room.
Thesaurus
Etymology
A northern English and Scots variant of nicker, an imitative word for a horse's soft neigh. The sound word also developed the human sense 'snigger or laugh under one's breath,' the sense used by Charlotte Bronte.