nuisance

nuisance
\ \ [15] Nuisance has become much less serious over the centuries. When English originally acquired it, it meant ‘harm, injury’ (‘Helpe me to weye ageyn the feend … keepe vs from his nusance’, Thomas Hoccleve, Mother of God 1410), reflecting its origins in Latin nocēreinjure’ (source also of English innocent and innocuous). But gradually it softened to ‘troublesomeness’, and by the early 19th century it had acquired its present-day connotations of ‘petty annoyance’.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • nuisance — nui·sance / nüs əns, nyüs / n [Anglo French nusaunce, from Old French nuire to harm, from Latin nocēre]: something (as an act, object, or practice) that invades or interferes with another s rights or interests (as the use or enjoyment of… …   Law dictionary

  • nuisance — is that activity which arises from unreasonable, unwarranted or unlawful use by a person of his own property, working obstruction or injury to right of another, or to the public, and producing such material annoyance, inconvenience and discomfort …   Black's law dictionary

  • nuisance — is that activity which arises from unreasonable, unwarranted or unlawful use by a person of his own property, working obstruction or injury to right of another, or to the public, and producing such material annoyance, inconvenience and discomfort …   Black's law dictionary

  • nuisance — [ nɥizɑ̃s ] n. f. • 1120, repris v. 1960, par l angl. nuisance; de nuire I ♦ Vx ou région. Caractère de ce qui est nuisible; chose nuisible. II ♦ (1936 nuisance industrielle) Ensemble de facteurs d origine technique (bruits, dégradations,… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • nuisance — nui‧sance [ˈnjuːsns ǁ ˈnuː ] noun [countable, uncountable] LAW someone or something that causes public annoyance: • After a local jury found the noise was a nuisance, a judge ruled that the bell can no longer ring at night. • movement of… …   Financial and business terms

  • nuisance — Nuisance, f. penac. Incommodum, Noxa. Avec nuisance, Nocenter. Sans nuisance, Innocenter …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • Nuisance — Nui sance, n. [OE. noisance, OF. noisance, nuisance, fr. L. nocentia guilt, fr. nocere to hurt, harm; akin to necare to kill. Cf {Necromancy}, {Nocent}, {Noxious}, {Pernicious}.] That which annoys or gives trouble and vexation; that which is… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • nuisance — (n.) c.1400, injury, hurt, harm, from Anglo Fr. nusaunce, O.Fr. nuisance harm, wrong, damage, from pp. stem of nuire to harm, from L. nocere to hurt (see NOXIOUS (Cf. noxious)). Sense has softened over time, to anything obnoxious to a community… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Nuisance — (engl., spr. njūßens), Beeinträchtigung, etwas die Nachbarschaft oder die Allgemeinheit Belästigendes …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • nuisance — [n] annoyance; annoying person besetment, blister, bore, bother, botheration, botherment, bum*, creep, drag*, drip*, exasperation, frump, gadfly, headache*, inconvenience, infliction, insect*, irritant, irritation, louse, nag*, nudge*, offense,… …   New thesaurus

  • nuisance — ► NOUN ▪ a person or thing causing inconvenience or annoyance. ORIGIN Old French, hurt , from Latin nocere to harm …   English terms dictionary

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