ˈnethə(r) adjective
Etymology: Middle English nether, nethere, nithere, from Old English nithera, from nither, nithor, adverb, down, downward; akin to Old Saxon nithiri, adjective, nether, nithar, adverb, down, Old High German nidari, nidaro, adjective, nether, nidar, adverb, down, Old Norse nethri, netharri, adjective, nether, nithr, adverb, down; all from a Germanic word that is a compar. of a word akin to Sanskrit ni down; akin to Old English in — more at in
1. : situated down or below : lying beneath or in the lower part : lower , under
wandered onward till they reached the nether margin of the heath — Thomas Hardy
her nether lip crept up between her upper and lower teeth — F.V.W.Mason
caught between the nether millstone of higher labor costs and the upper millstone of … rigidly set price ceilings — Clark Kerr
her first contact with the nether side of the smooth social surface — Edith Wharton
2. : situated or believed to be situated beneath the surface of the earth
captured her and carried her off to the nether world to be his wife — S.V.McCasland