1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, iii., iii. My wines, which I never adulterated after their importation, and were sold as neat as they came over.
1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, viii. He . . . judged the cordial to be no other than neat Cogniac.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., etc., i., 397. I was obliged to drink rum; it wouldn't ha' done to ha' drunk the water neat, there was so many insects in it.
1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, i. I should take a small glass of brandy neat. Mind, no spoiling the effect with water.
As neat as (a bandbox, a new pin, wax, ninepence), phr. (colloquial).—As neat as may be.
1884. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, iii., 3 (Three Plays, 36). We've nobbled him, as neat as ninepence.
Neat, but not gaudy: as the devil said when he painted his bottom red, and tied up his tail with sky-blue ribbon, phr. (common).—Spick and span; 'fresh as a daisy.'
1887. Lippincott's Mag., July, p. 116. I have sent, I say, just such manuscript as editors call for, fair, clean, written on one side, not with a pencil, but with a good gold pen, stamps enclosed for return if declined; the whole thing 'neat, but not gaudy, as the monkey said' on the memorable occasion 'when he painted his tail sky-blue.'
1892. Society, 6 Aug., p. 757, col. 1. Tennyson when in a rage is neat and not gaudy.
Neb (or Nib), subs. (old colloquial:
now recognised).—1. Originally
the bill of a bird; hence the face,
mouth, or nose: specifically
[B. E. (c. 1696), Grose (1785),
and Matsell (1859)] of a
woman.
c.1225. Ancren Riwle, 90. Scheau thi leoue neb to me.
c.1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Neb. She holds up her neb: she turns up her mouth to be kissed.
2. (old colloquial: now recognised).—A pen.—B. E. (c. 1696); Grose (1785).
3. (old).—The neck.
1535. Coverdale, Bible, Gen. viii., 11. Beholde she had broken of a leaf of an olyue tre and bare it on her nebb.
d.1622. Bacon, Nat. Hist. Take a glasse with a belly and a long neb.
Nebuchadnezzar, subs. (venery).—1.
The penis. [From its taste
for Greens (q.v.)]. See Prick.
To take Nebuchadnezzar out
to grass = to copulate. See
Greens and Ride.
2. (common).—A vegetarian.
Necessary, subs. (old).—1. A
bedfellow. See Tart.
2. (old colloquial).—A privy. Also necessary house (or vault).
1609. Field, Woman is a Weathercock, iv., 2. She showed me to a necessary vault. Within a closet in the chamber too.
1611. Field, Amends for Ladies, ii., 4. I met her in the necessary house i' th' morning.
c.1786. Morris, The Plenipotentiary. For fancied delight . . . To frig in the school necessary.
Neck, verb (old).—1. To hang:
see Ladder. Whence, neck-*cloth
(neckinger, necklace,
neck-squeezer, or necktie) =
a halter; necktie-sociable = a
hanging done by a Vigilance
Committee; neck-question = a
hanging matter, something vital;
neck-verse, see quot, 1696;
neck-weed = hemp, or gallows-grass
(q.v.); TO wear a
hempen necktie, etc. = to be
hanged.
