"nigh on" meaning in English

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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I had been working in this industry for nigh on twelve years when it happened.",
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        {
          "ref": "1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XVI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:",
          "text": "“[…]They say he has sold himself to the devil for a pretty face. It’s nigh on eighteen years since I met him. He hasn’t changed much since then. I have, though,” she added, with a sickly leer.",
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        {
          "ref": "1964, Ron Angel (lyrics and music), “The ICI Song”:",
          "text": "I’ve shoveled up the gypsum till it nigh on makes you choke.",
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      "glosses": [
        "Almost, nearly; approaching; not quite."
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          "Almost",
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          "nearly",
          "nearly"
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          "approaching",
          "approaching"
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  "word": "nigh on"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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      "examples": [
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          "text": "I had been working in this industry for nigh on twelve years when it happened.",
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          "ref": "1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XVI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:",
          "text": "“[…]They say he has sold himself to the devil for a pretty face. It’s nigh on eighteen years since I met him. He hasn’t changed much since then. I have, though,” she added, with a sickly leer.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1964, Ron Angel (lyrics and music), “The ICI Song”:",
          "text": "I’ve shoveled up the gypsum till it nigh on makes you choke.",
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      "glosses": [
        "Almost, nearly; approaching; not quite."
      ],
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          "nearly",
          "nearly"
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  "word": "nigh on"
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