nail in one's coffin
An alcoholic drink.
English · UK & Ireland 442
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Where will you be? Anywhere UK & IrelandUnited StatesOnline slangBusiness jargon
Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
nap the regulars
To divide up the booty.
neck and neck
Level in a race.
Ned Stokes
The four of spades.
needy mizzler
A shabby person; a tramp who runs away without paying for his lodging.
never trust me
Used in oaths, suggesting that one should never be trusted again if what one says now is not true.
newgate knocker
A lock of hair worn twisted back toward the ear.
n. c
"enough said," being the initials of NUF CED. A certain theatrical manager spells, it is said, in this style.
nab
To catch, to seize; "NAB the rust," to take offence.—Ancient, fourteenth century. See NAP.
nabob
An Eastern prince, a retired Indian official,—hence a slang term for a capitalist. From Nawaub.
nabs
Self; my NABS, myself; his NABS, himself.—North Country Cant.
nack
To have a nack; to be ready at any thing, to have a turn-for it.
nag
To persistently talk in a scolding manner, after the manner of Mrs. Caudle. NAGGING is supposed to be persistent, persevering, passionless scolding.
nail
To steal, or capture; "paid on the NAIL," i.e., paid ready money; NAILED, taken up, or caught,—probably in allusion to the practice of NAILING bad money to the counter. We say, "as dead as a door-NAIL;" most possibly because of "apt alliteration." Shakspeare has the expression in Henry IV.—
nailed
Secured, fixed. He offered me a decus, and I nailed him; he offered me a crown, and I struck or fixed him.
nam esclop
A policeman. See ESCLOP.
namby-pamby
Particular, over-nice, effeminate. This was possibly of Pope’s invention, and first applied by him to the affected short-lined verses addressed by Ambrose Phillips to Lord Carteret’s infant children. See Johnson’s Life of Pope.
nammow
A woman; DELO NAMMOW, an old woman.
nammus
Or NAMOUS, to be off, to get away; "let’s NAMMUS, somebody’s coming." See VAMOS.
nanny-shop
A disreputable house.
nantee
Not any, or "I have none." NANTEE also means "shut up!" or "leave off!" Italian, NIENTE, nothing. See DINARLY.—Lingua Franca.
nantee palaver
No conversation, i.e., hold your tongue. Very often in this sense also shortened to NANTEE only. Originally Lingua Franca, but now general.
nap
Or NAB, to take, steal, or receive; "you’ll NAP it," i.e., you will catch a beating.—North; also Old Cant.
nap nix
A person who works at his trade, and occasionally goes on the stage to act minor parts without receiving any pay. The derivation is obvious. See NAP and NIX, i.e., NICHTS.
nap one’s bib
To cry, shed tears, or carry one’s point.
nap the teaze
To be privately whipped in prison.
napper
The head; also a cheat or thief.
napper of naps
A sheep stealer. CANT.
napping
To take any one napping; i.e. to come upon him unexpectedly, to find him asleep: as, He caught him napping, as Morse caught his mare.
nark
A person in the pay of the police; a common informer; one who gets his living by laying traps for publicans, &c. Sometimes called a "nose."
narrow
Mean, sordid.—Scotch. In common slang, dull of comprehension, as distinguished from wide awake.
nasty
Ill-tempered, cross-grained. "He was very NASTY," i.e., he was ill-humoured.
nation
An abbreviation of damnation: a vulgar term used in Kent, Sussex, and the adjacent counties, for very. Nation good; very good. A nation long way; a very long way.
nation
Or TARNATION, very, or exceedingly. Corruption of damnation.
natty
Pretty, neat, tidy.—Old.
natty lads
Young thieves or pickpockets. CANT.
natural
A mistress, a child; also an idiot. A natural son or daughter; a love or merry-begotten child, a bastard.
natural
An idiot, a simpleton. Sometimes HALF-NATURAL.
navigator scot
Baked potatoes all hot.
navigators
Taturs,—vulgar pronunciation of potatoes.
navvy
An excavator employed in making railways, canals, &c. Originally slang, but now a recognised term. Short for navigator, a term humorously applied to excavators when their chief work was that of cutting and banking canals, making dykes to rivers, &c.
navy office
The Fleet prison. Commander of the Fleet; the warden of the Fleet prison.
nay word
A bye-word, proverb.
nazakene foretop
The foretop of a wig made in imitation of Christ's head of hair, as represented by the painters and sculptors.
nazy
Drunken. Nazy cove or mort; a drunken rogue or harlot. Nazy nabs; drunken coxcombs.
neardy
A person in authority over another; master, parent, or foreman.—North.
neat
Unmixed with water. "Two half goes of gin, one NEAT, the other cold," meaning one as drawn, the other diluted with cold water. The Americans use the word "straight" instead of NEAT: "I’ll take mine straight."
neck
To swallow. Neck-oil, drink of any kind.
neck and crop
Entirely, completely; "he chuck’d him NECK AND CROP out of window."
neck beef
A synonym for coarseness. "As coarse as neck ends of beef."
neck or nothing
Desperate. Originally a steeplechase phrase.
neck stamper
The boy who collects the pots belonging to an alehouse, sent out with beer to private houses.
neck verse
Formerly the persons claiming the benefit of clergy were obliged to read a verse in a Latin manuscript psalter: this saving them from the gallows, was termed their neck verse: it was the first verse of the fiftyfirst psalm, Miserere mei,&c.
neckinger
A cravat. See MUCKENGER.
ned
A guinea. HALF-NED, half-a-guinea.
neddy
A considerable quantity, as "a NEDDY of fruit," "a NEDDY of fish," &c.—Irish slang.
needful
Money, cash; the "one thing NEEDFUL" for the accomplishment of most pet designs.
needle
To annoy. To "cop the NEEDLE" is to become vexed or annoyed.
negligee
A woman's undressed gown, Vulgarly termed a neggledigee.
negroe
A black-a-moor: figuratively used for a slave. I'll be no man's negro; I will be no man's slave.