netty

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnɛti/
  • Rhymes: -ɛti

Etymology 1

From net (“elegant, neat”) +‎ -y (“forming adjs. of slightly lesser degree”).[1]

Adjective

netty (comparative nettier, superlative nettiest)

  1. (obsolete, rare) Neat, well-groomed, natty.
    • 1573, Thomas Tusser, “Points of Huswifrie”, in Fiue Hundreth Points of Good Husbandry:
      How prettie, how fine and how nettie,
      Good huswife should yettie.

Etymology 2

From net (“openwork fabric mesh”) +‎ -y (“forming adjectives”).[2]

Adjective

netty (comparative nettier, superlative nettiest)

  1. Netted: made of or employing a net.
    • 1587, Leonard Mascall, The Booke of Cattell: Sheep, page 214:
      Ye ought for to keepe them close, till the day haue taken the gellie or netty rime, from the earth.
  2. Netlike.

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Proposed derivations include a corruption of necessary, a euphemism for outhouse; French nettoyer (“to cleanse”); and Italian gabinetto (“toilet”).[3]

Noun

netty (plural netties)

  1. (Geordie) An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
    • 1825, John Trotter Brockett, Glossary of North Country Words::
      Neddy, Netty, a certain place that will not bear a written explanation, but which is depicted to the very life in a tail-piece in the first edition of Bewick's ‘Land Birds’ (1797), p. 285.
    • 1978, John Lewis, chapter III, in Uncertain Sound, page 75:
      A line of pit cottages... tiny back gardens with outside lavatories, ‘netties’, some of them emptied twice a week by the council.
    • 1992 May 4, The Independent, page 13:
      Our toilet was an outside netty shared between two or three families, where you sat on a hole and hoped the cat wouldn't jump at your backside.
  2. (Geordie) Any other place or fixture used for urination and defecation: a lavatory; a toilet.
    • 1903, English Dialect Dictionary, volume IV, page 255:
      Netty, a privy or water-closet... A common name, amongst the working classes... In common use. In my recollection it was looked upon as a euphemism.
Usage notes

Originally reckoned euphemistic.

Synonyms
References
  1. ^ "† netty, adj.¹" in the Oxford English Dictionary (2003), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ "netty, adj.²" in the Oxford English Dictionary (2003), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  3. ^ "netty, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary (2003), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “netty”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN.
  • Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “netty”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎[1], archived from the original on 5 September 2024.
  • Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[2]
  • The Geordie Netty: A Short History and Guide, Frank Graham, 1986, Butler Publishing; New edition, →ISBN[3]
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