niggling
Trifling, or idling; taking short steps in walking.—North.
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Expressions you’ll hear in Britain and Ireland — distinctly British usage first, then widespread staples.
night-hunter
A poacher.—North. Also a London prostitute. Sometimes in the latter capacity varied to night-hawk.
nightcap
A glass of "warm with" taken the last thing at night.
nightingale
A soldier who, as the term is, sings out at the halberts. It is a point of honour in some regiments, among the grenadiers, never to cry out, become nightingales, whilst under the discipline of the cat of nine tails; to avoid which, they chew a bullet.
nightman
One whose business it is to empty necessary houses in London, which is always done in the night; the operation is called a wedding. See WEDDING.
nigmenog
A very silly fellow.
nil
Half; half profits, &c.
nilly-willy
I.e., NILL YE, WILL YE, whether you will or no; a familiar version of the Latin, NOLENS VOLENS. Generally written now, WILLY-NILLY.
nimgimmer
A physician or surgeon, particularly those who cure the venereal disease.
nimming
Stealing. Old English, NIM, to take. Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word NIM (to snatch or pick up) was derived from nam, nam, the tiny words or cries of an infant, when eating anything which pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word:—
nincompoop
A fool, a hen-pecked husband, a "Jerry Sneak."—Corruption of non compos mentis.
nine corns
A pipeful of tobacco.
nine lives
Cats are said to have nine lives, and women ten cats lives.
nine shillings
Cool audacity; most probably derived from the French, NONCHALANCE.
ninepence
"nice as NINEPENCE," all right, right to a nicety. A correspondent says:—"This most undoubtedly should be NINE-PINS. For at the game of that name, in fairness to both parties, the nine pins must always be set up with great accuracy. There is no nicety in NINEPENCE!" Evidently this correspondent does not know how nice it is to have ninepence, after being without money. At all events the phrase is "nice as NINEPENCE."
nines
"dressed up to the NINES," in a showy or recherché manner. Up to the NINES, up to the dodges and "wrinkles" of life.
ning-nang
Horse-coupers’ term for a worthless thoroughbred.
ninnyhammer
A foolish, ignorant person. Generally shortened to NINNY. NINNY is also short for nincompoop.
nip
A cheat. Bung nipper; a cutpurse.
nip
To steal, to take up quickly. See NAP and NIB.
nip cheese
A nick name for the purser of a ship: from those gentlemen being supposed sometimes to nip, or diminish, the allowance of the seamen, in that and every other article. It is also applied to stingy persons in general.
nipcheese
A purser.—Old Sea Slang.
nipper
A sharp lad. Originally a superior grade among cut-purses.
nipps
The sheers used in clipping money.
nix
Nothing. German, NICHTS. See MUNGARLY.
nix my dolly
Once a very popular slang song, beginning—
nix!
The signal word of schoolboys and workpeople to each other that the master, or other person in authority, is approaching.
niz-priz
A writ of nisi-prius.—Legal.
nizzie
A fool, a coxcomb.—Old Cant, vide Triumph of Wit.
no catchy no havy
If I am not caught, I cannot be hurt. Negro saying.
no flies
An emphatic addition made to an assertion for the purpose of giving it weight. It really means "no error" or "no mistake." Both of them popular; as, "A jolly fine girl, and NO FLIES!"
no odds
No matter, of no consequence.—Latimer’s Sermon before Edward VI.
no-fly
Artful, designing. Term much used among printers, who shorten it to "N.F."
nob
A king. A man of rank.
nob
The head.—Pugilistic; "bob a NOB," a shilling a head. Ancient Cant, NEB. NOB is an early English word, and is used in the romance of Kynge Alinaunder (thirteenth century) for a head; originally, no doubt, the same as knob.
nobba
Nine. Italian, NOVE; Spanish, NOVA,—the b and v being interchangeable, as in sabe and savvey. Slang introduced by the "organ-grinders" from Italy.
nobba saltee
Ninepence. Lingua Franca, NOVE SOLDI.
nobbing
Collecting money; "what NOBBINGS?" i.e., how much have you got or collected from the crowd? This term is much used by "buskers."
nobbing cheat
The gallows.—Old Cant.
nobble
To cheat, to overreach; to discover. In the racing world, to "NOBBLE" a horse, is to "get at," and lame or poison him.
nobbler
A blow on the NOB, a finishing stroke; "that’s a NOBBLER for him," i.e., a settler.—Pugilistic.
nobby
Or NOBBISH, fine or showy; NOBBILY, showily. See SNOB for derivation.
nock
The breech; from NOCK, a notch.
nocky boy
A dull simple fellow.
nod
He is gone to the land of nod; he is asleep.
noddy
A simpleton or fool. Also a kind of low cart, with a seat before it for the driver, used in and about Dublin, in the manner of a hackney coach: the fare is just half that of a coach, for the same distance; so that for sixpence one may have a set down, as it is called, of a mile and half, and frequently a tumble down into the bargain: it is called a noddy from the nutation of its head. Knave noddy; the old-fashioned name for the knave of trumps.
noisy dog racket
Stealing brass knockers from doors.
nokes
A ninny, or fool. John-a-Nokes and Tom-a-Stiles; two honest peaceable gentlemen, repeatedly set together by the ears by lawyers of different denominations: two fictitious names formerly used in law proceedings, but now very seldom, having for several years past been supplanted by two other honest peaceable gentlemen, namely, John Doe and Richard Roe.
noli-me-tangere
The Scotch fiddle, or other contagious disease.
noll
Old Noll; Oliver Cromwell.
non-com
A non-commissioned officer in the army.
non-con
A nonconformist, presbyterian, or any other dissenter.
none-such
One that is unequalled: frequently applied ironically.
nonsense
Melting butter in a wig.
nooning
An interval for rest and refreshment, taken at midday by travellers in hot countries.
nope
A blow: as, I took him a nope on the costard.
norfolk dumpling
A nick name, or term of jocular reproach to a Norfolk man; dumplings being a favourite food in that county.
norfolk-howards
Bugs; a person named Ephraim Bug some few years back advertised, that for the future he would call himself by the more aristocratic appellation of NORFOLK HOWARD.
north
Cunning. The inhabitants of Yorkshire and the Northern counties are supposed, like the canny Scots, to get the better of other people in dealing; hence the phrase, "He’s too far NORTH for me," i.e., too cunning for me to deal with.
north allertons
Spurs; that place, like Rippon, being famous for making them.
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