1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xxxviii. I passed, soon after that precious party, and my friends came down with the needful for this business.
1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, 153. Let me have the pleasure of lending an old college-mate some of the needful!
1864. Eton School Days, i., 3. Goodbye. Here's a supply of the needful.
1889. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. Searching for the needful to satisfy so just a demand.
1900. Free Lance, 6 Oct., 20, 1. I am glad to take anything that comes along, even if it is only ten per. Someone had to get the needful, you know.
Needham. On the high-road
to Needhham, phr. (old).—See
quot. Cf. Peckham,
Land of Nod, Bedfordshire,
Etc.
1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn], 221. You are on the high-way to Needham. Needham is a market-town in this county [Suffolk]; according to the wit of the vulgar, they are said to be in the highway thither which do hasten to poverty.
Needle, subs. (old).—1. A
sharper; a thief.
1821. Egan, Life in London, 138. Amongst the needles at the West end of the town.
2. (venery).—The penis: see Prick. Whence needle-woman = a harlot (see quot. 1849).
1632. Nabbes, Covent Garden, i., 6. Susan. The loadstone of my heart . . . pointing still to the North of your love. Jeffery. Indeed, mistris, 'tis a cold corner; pray turne it to the South, and let my needle run in your Diall.
c.1680. Earl of Dorset, Poems, 'On Dolly Chamberlain.' In revenge I will stitch Up the hole next her breech, With a needle as long as my arm.
d.1680. Rochester, Poems, 'A Satire which the King took out of his Pocket.' The seaman's needle nimbly points the pole; But thine still turns to ev'ry craving hole.
c.1720. Durfey, Pills to Purge, vi., 91. But if by chance a Flaw I find, In dressing of the Leather; I straightway whip my Needle out, And I tack 'em close together.
1849. Carlyle, Nigger Question [Cent. ed. xxix. 366]. We have thirty thousand distressed needlewomen . . . who cannot sew at all . . . on the street with five hungry senses.
Verb. (common).—1. To annoy; to irritate; to rile (q.v.). To give (or get) the needle = to annoy (or be annoyed).
1881. G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (Polly). There, he's off! the young warmint, he's needled.
1884. Daily Telegraph, 4 Sept., 2, 2. I felt a bit needled at the sort of sneering way Teedy had spoken.
1887. Punch, 30 July, 45. It give 'im the needle in course, being left in the lurch in this way.
1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., 3, 1. He's seen a girl, one of his old flames, pass the door. He doesn't want to needle her, as she's a good little sort.
1891. Lic. Vict. Gaz., 3 April. This seemed to needle Gideon, who, determined not to be outdone, offered 900 to 100 on the field.
1897. Evening Standard, 24 Dec., 4, 5. When one, or both, of two proficient antagonists at any sport have taken the needle . . . the result, nine times out of ten, is an improvement in the exhibition.
1898. Illustrated Bits, Xmas No., 50. Then Maudie gets the needle, and she jumps across the floor, And ketches me a fair ole rousin' socker on the jore.
2. (old).—To haggle over a bargain.—Vaux (1819).
Also see Spanish needle; St. Peter's needle, Knight.
Needle-and-thread, subs. phr.
(rhyming).—Bread.
Needle-book (or -case), subs.
(venery).—The female pudendum:
see Monosyllable.
Needle-dodger, subs, (common).—A
dress-maker.
