Nithered (on the Heights!)

To be nithered was, at one time, to be starved with cold - but then starved in that context is not the normal use of that word, either.  That wonderful compilation of modern slang, the Urban Dictionary, defines it as – “The condition one finds oneself in after spending an appreciable amount of time in nithering conditions. The kind of cold where you can't feel your fingers, toes or nose any more, and don't look forward to them coming back, cos it'll hurt.”

 Well and truly nithered !

 

The word was principally a dialect word and is said to have held on in the Pennines until at least the middle of the last century.  But then, that is also where the word wuthering - (of a wind) blowing strongly with a roaring sound – was once made famous by a certain novelist!