A Scottish dialectal phrase meaning close by, nearby, or almost. Used to describe physical proximity or to mean 'nearly' in a more general sense. It's the kind of expression that sounds old-fashioned to outsiders but feels perfectly natural in everyday Scottish speech. You might hear it used to describe a location or to soften a near-miss — 'I near-hand fell off the ladder there.'
The shop's near-hand, just round the corner past the church — you'll not miss it.
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(Scotland) near at hand; close by.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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