2. (common).—Something out of the common; a clipper (q.v). A general term of excellence: e.g., a handsome woman; a clever student; a fast horse, and so forth.
1886-96. Marshall, 'Pomes' from the Pink 'Un, 88. At guzzling the whole lot were nailers.
Nailing, subs. (common).—1. See nail, verb.
2. (common).—Excellent; almost beyond comparison.
1894. George Moore, Esther Waters, xxxvi. A nailing good horse once.
Nailrod, subs. (Australian). See ROD.
NAIR, subs, (back-slang). Rain.
Naked, subs. (common).—Raw spirit; neat (q.v.).
Nakedness, subs. (conventional).—The privy parts: see Prick and Monosyllable.
1613. Bible (Authorised Version), Gen. ix., 22. And Ham . . . saw the nakedness of his father.
Nale, subs. (old Scots').—See quot.
1808. Jamieson, Dict., s.v. Nale. This, I suspect, is a cant term used as an abbreviation, an ale, for 'an ale-house.' I observe no similar word.
Nam, subs. (back-slang).—A man. Nam ESCLOP = a policeman.
Namase. See Nammous.
Namby-Pamby, adj. (old colloquial).—Affected; effeminate; overnice. [Swift's invention, and first applied to the affected short-lined verses addressed by Ambrose Philips to Lord Carteret's infant children]. Also as subs, and verb. = to flatter; to pamper.
1781. Johnson. Lives of the Poets [A. Phillips], iv., p. 173 (ed. 1793.) The pieces that please best are those which, from Pope to Pope's adherents, procured him the name of Namby Pamby, the poems of short lines, by which he paid his court to all ages and characters.
1812. Maria Edgworth, Absentee. xvi. A lady of quality . . . sends me Irish cheese and Iceland moss for my breakfast, and her waiting gentlewoman to NAMBY-PAMBY me.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Namby-pamby—verse, ill-composed, unmeaning.
1857. Bell, Ballads and Songs of Peasantry, Intro., p. 8. Resisting everywhere the invasion of modern namby-pamby verse.
1862. Thackeray, Philip, ix. That namby-pamby ballet and idyll world, where they tripped up to each other in rhythm, and talked hexameters.
Name. His name is Dennis (or Mud), phr. (American).—A phrase indicative of collapse or defeat; to be sent up Salt River (q.v.); to be played out (q.v.).
TO TAKE ONE'S NAME IN vain, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To mention by name: the person spoken of having unexpectedly or accidentally overheard.
1708-10. Swift, Polite Conversation, Neverout. . . . Smoke Miss yonder biting her lips. . . . (Miss). Who's that TAKES MY NAME IN VAIN?
To put one's name into it, verb. phr. (tailors'). To get a thing well forward; to greatly advance a matter.
Nameless, The (or NAME-IT-NOT), subs. (venery).—The female pudendum: see Monosyllable.
c.1674. Bristol Drollery [Farmer, Merry Songs and Ballads (1897), v., 50], 89. Such delicate Thighs, And that shall be nameless between.
Nameless Creek (The), subs. phr. (anglers')—A lucky place whose whereabouts is for that reason untold.
