c. 1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Nask. The Old Nask, the City Bridewell. The New Nask, Clerkenwell Bridewell. Tuttle Nask, The Bridewell in Tuttle-Fields.
1775. Ash, Dict. s.v. Naskin (a Cant ward), a jail, a bridewell.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
See also Nab.
Nasty, adj. (colloquial).—Ill-tempered; disagreeable; cutting: e.g., nasty jar, a stinging retort; nasty knock (or one), a disagreeable experience; nasty one in the eye = a telling blow.
1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, iii. He would have thought her temper had turned nasty, though that was not her way.
1878. Trollope, Is he Popenjoy? ix. She is a nasty hateful creature; and I do hate her . . . How a woman can be so nasty I can't imagine.
1880. Ouida, Moths, xv. The lovely Fuschia possessed in reserve an immense relating power of being nasty were she displeased
1881. R. G. White, Eng. Without and Within, xvi. Lady A said . . . to her husband . . . Do take some, [soup] A, it's not at all nasty. Ibid. A stormy day in England is called a nasty day.
1886-06. Marshall, Honest Bill, ['Pomes,' 50]. They called him Captain Chickweed, and he'd planned a nasty knock.
1891. Harry Fludyer, 84. Then he said . . . one idle son in a family was more than enough (that's a nasty one for you, Pat, my boy).
Cheap and nasty, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Pleasing to the eye, but worthless in fact.
1864. Athenæum, 29 Oct. Cheap and nasty, or, in a local form, 'Cheap AND NASTY, LIKE SHORT'S IN THE STRAND,' a proverb applied to the deceased founder of cheap dinners.
Nasty-man, subs. (thieves').—See Garrotte, verb.
Nation, subs. and adv. (old colloquial).—See quot. 1785.
1759-67. Sterne, Trist. Shandy, v., 21. The French have such a nation of hedges.
1765. Moving Times [Bartlett], 4. I believe, my friend, you're very right: They'll get a nation profit by 't
1775. Yankee Doodle. And every time they shoot it off, It takes a horn of powder, And makes a noise like father's gun, Only a nation louder.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Nation, an abbreviation of damnation, a vulgar term used in Kent, Sussex, and the adjacent counties, for very; nation good, a nation long way, a very long way.
1805. J. Reynolds, Blind Bargain, i., 1. There it be—there be the old fireside, and nation glad I am to clap eyes on't.
1824. Peake, Americans Abroad, i., 1. I have no doubt he will push his fortune, as he is a nation deal of the gentleman. Ibid., ii., 2. It's nation lonesome to sit by one's self.
1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1st S., xix. There was a nation sight of folks there.
1848. Burton, Waggeries, etc., p. 20. As much as you say, 'What the nation are you at?'
1854. Ainsworth, Flitch of Bacon, pt. i., v. We're 'nation fond of old brandy
1868. C. Reade, Foul Play, ix. Don't be in such a nation hurry: for, if you do, it will be bad for me, but worse for you.
National Intelligencer. Unable to say National Intelligencer, phr. (American).—Drunk: see Drinks and Screwed. Cf. British Constitution.
Natty, adj. (colloquial).—Neat; tidy; spruce. Hence nattily, nattiness.
1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, cb. 68, st. i, p. 159 (E.D.S.). Concerning how prettie, how fine and how nettie, Good huswife should iettie, from morning to night.
