Definition of "nias" [ni•as]

• A young hawk; an eyas. (noun)
• An unsophisticated person. (noun)

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• "So eyas, like orange and umpire, is the result of metanalysis false division of the article + noun unit: "a nias" "an eyas"."
• "It's EYE-as, and the etymology turns out to be worth knowing as well: Middle English eias, from an eias, alteration of *a nias, an eyas, from Old French niais, from Latin ni:dus, nest; see sed- in Indo-European roots AHD."
• "[807] Prosphatōs genomenos en Ankura tēs Galatias kai katalabōn tēn kata topon (not Ponton) ekklēsian hupo tēs nias tautēs .... pseudoprophēteias diatethrulēmenēn (“When I was recently at Ancyra in Galatia, I found the local church quite upset by this novel form .... of false prophecy”)."