netty

English

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

netty (comparative nettier, superlative nettiest)

(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.

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

netty (comparative nettier, superlative nettiest)

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.
Netlike.

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

netty (plural netties)

(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.
(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.

Originally reckoned euphemistic.

^ "† netty, adj.¹" in the Oxford English Dictionary (2003), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
^ "netty, adj.²" in the Oxford English Dictionary (2003), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
^ "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 2024-09-05.
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]