neighbor

neigh·bor  (nbr)

n.

1. One who lives near or next to another.

2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another.

3. A fellow human.

4. Used as a form of familiar address.

v. neigh·bored, neigh·bor·ing, neigh·bors

v.tr.

To lie close to or border directly on.

v.intr.

To live or be situated close by.

adj.

Situated or living near another: a neighbor state.

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[Middle English neighebor, from Old English nahgebr : nah, near + gebr, dweller; see bheu- in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: Loving one's neighbor as oneself would be much easier, or perhaps much more difficult, if the word neighbor had kept to its etymological meaning. The source of our word, the assumed West Germanic form *nhgabr, was a compound of the words *nhwiz, "near," and *bram, "dweller, especially a farmer." A neighbor, then, was a near dweller. Nahgebr, the Old English descendant of this West Germanic word, and its descendant in Middle English, neighebor, and our Modern English neighbor have all retained the literal notion, even though one can now have many neighbors whom one does not know, a situation that would have been highly unlikely in earlier times. The extension of this word to mean "fellow" is probably attributable to the Christian concern with the treatment of one's fellow humans, as in the passage in Matthew 19:19 that urges love of one's neighbor.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	neighbor - a person who lives (or is located) near another neighbour individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"
	2.	neighbor - a nearby object of the same kind; "Fort Worth is a neighbor of Dallas"; "what is the closest neighbor to the Earth?" neighbour object, physical object - a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow; "it was full of rackets, balls and other objects"
Verb	1.	neighbor - live or be located as a neighbor; "the neighboring house" neighbour inhabit, live, populate, dwell - inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of; "People lived in Africa millions of years ago"; "The people inhabited the islands that are now deserted"; "this kind of fish dwells near the bottom of the ocean"; "deer are populating the woods"
	2.	neighbor - be located near or adjacent to; "Pakistan neighbors India" neighbour butt, butt against, butt on, abut, adjoin, edge, border, march - lie adjacent to another or share a boundary; "Canada adjoins the U.S."; "England marches with Scotland"