Needle-point, subs. (old).—A sharper: also needle-pointer.—B. E. (c.1696); Grose (1785); Vaux (1819); Ency. Dict. (1885).
Needy-mizzler (or Needy),
subs. (tramps').—See quot. 1823.
Hence needy-mizzling.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. Needy Mizzler. A poor ragged object of either sex.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwod, iii.. v. Though a needy mizzler mysel, I likes to see a cove vot's vel dressed.
1808. Temple Bar; xxiv., 536. His game is needy-mizzling. He'll go without a shirt, perhaps, and beg one from house to house. Ibid. Needy-mizzlers, mumpers, shallow-coves.
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xiv. All I get is my kip and a clean mill tog, a pair of pollies and a stoock, and what few medazas I can make out of the lodgers and needies.
Neel, adj. (back-slang).—Lean.
Ne'er-be-lickit, subs. (colloquial
Scots).—See quot.
1885. Encycl. Dict., s.v. Ne'er-be-lickit. Nothing which could be licked by a dog or cat; nothing whatever.
Ne'er-do-well, subs. (colloquial.—See
quot.)
1885. Encycl. Dict., s.v. Ne'er-do-well. One who is never likely to do well.
Adj. (colloquial)—Incorrigible.
1898. Le Queux, Scribes and Pharisees, v. His two cousins . . . looked on the Ne'er-do-well student as an interloper.
Neergs, subs. (back-slang).—Greens.
Neggledigee, subs. (old).—See
quot.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, [Egan], s.v. Negligee. A woman's undressed gown, vulgarly termed a neggledigee.
Negotiate, verb. (colloquial).—To
contrive; to accomplish.
1891. Sporting Life, 18 Mar. They pulled themselves together, and ultimately negotiated Hammersmith Bridge in better style.
1891. Daily Chronicle, 20 Mar. The other two—who also negotiated the same distance, namely, a mile and a half—went together as usual.
1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 32. To see him negotiate corners was one of the loveliest sights.
1897. Kennard, Girl in Brown Habit, ii. She had negotiated the obstacle all right, but if we had happened to come to grief, I should have blamed myself a little.
Negro, subs. (old : now recognised).—A
black man; a slave.—Grose
(1785).
Negro-head, subs. (nautical).—A
brown loaf.—Grose (1796).
Negro-nos'd, adj. (old: now
recognised).—Flat-nosed.—B. E.
(c.1696).
Neighbourly, adj. (old: now
recognised).—Friendly; obliging.—Dict.
Cant. Crew (1696).
Neman, subs. (American thieves').—Stealing.—Matsell
(1859).
Nenti, adv. (circus).—Nothing:
cf. Nantie.
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xx. I gets sixteen bob a week . . . and I get my kip for nenti here for helping old Blower tidy up.
Nephew, subs. (common).—The
illegitimate son of a priest:
see Niece.
1847. Ruxton, Far West, 145. They were probably his nieces and nephews—class of relations often possessed in numbers by priests and monks.
