1868. Pall Mall Gaz., 4 May. Buccaneer underwent the same fate as Old Calabar, and was nobbled, i.e. maimed purposely, before the Two Thousand in which he was engaged, and this rascally proceeding drove Lord Portsmouth, from the turf in disgust.
1882. Saturday Review, 25 Mar. In the elegant dialect of sporting novelists to nobble is a stronger term for to 'get at' a horse, or his owner or his jockey, and to 'get at' means secretly to frustrate, spoil, lame, dose, drug, or otherwise prevent the horse from 'doing his level best,' or for that matter his best across hurdles, or in a steeple-chase.
1888. Gould, Double Event. 145. Found out who tried to nobble the horse?
1892. Evening Standard, 11 May, 4, 4. A very sensible suggestion has been made with reference to the nobbling of horses. It is extremely improbable that there would be any attempt to injure a horse except for the purpose of winning bets of one sort or another about him.
3. (common).—To circumvent; to cheat; to do (q.v.); to square (q.v.).
1877. Greenwood, Dick Temple [Slang, J. & C.]. There's a fiver in the puss, and nine good quid. Have it. Nobble him, lads, and share it betwixt you.
1883. Punch, 2 June, 264, 1. Never have anything to do with the Turf. They are all scamps alike, and would sell their own fathers to gain their ends. But if you can't resist it, like me, there's only one chance for you, and that is, to nobble the jockey!
1886. Fortnightly Rev., xxxix. 136. It was never certain whether he was going to nobble the Tories, or square the Radicals.
1890. Grant Allen, The Tents of Shem, xii. I've nobbled her, he thought to himself, with a triumphant smile.
1896. Sala, London up to Date, 67. The proposers and seconders of the various candidates have warily ranged themselves on guard . . . and remain there hour after hour, skilfully nobbling members as they enter.
4. (common).—To to catch; to nab (q.v.).
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, xxv. I don't know out of how much the reverend party has nobbled his poor old sister at Brighton.
1860. Thackeray, Philip, xvi. The old chap has nobbled the young fellow's money, almost every shilling of it, I hear.
1888. Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xi. We're bound to be nobbled some day.
NOBBLER, subs. (pugilists')—1. A
blow on the head; and 2 (common),
a finishing stroke; A
settler (q.v.). In rod-fishing =
the gaff (that kills).
18[?]. Sir Harry Pottinger, Trout Fishing. Then after one alarming flurry on the top of the water, my left hand slips the landing-net under him and his final struggles are shortly ended with a single tap of the nobbler.
3. (sharpers').—A confederate of thimble-riggers and card-sharpers; bonnet (q.v.); bearer up (q.v); also: nob pitcher. [The nobbler plays as if a stranger to the rig (q.v.), to draw unsuspecting persons into play.]
1854. Whyte-Melville, General Bounce, vii. Nobblers and noblemen—grooms and gentlemen—betting-house keepers and cavalry officers—apparently all layers and no takers.
1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, 261. In my young days there used to travel about in gangs, like men of business, a lot of people called nobblers, who used to work the 'thimble and pea rig' and go buzzing, that is, picking pockets, assisted by some small boys.
4. (North country).—A pettifogging lawyer.
5. (Australian).—A drink: a go (q.v.); specifically of spirits.
1759. Fowler, Southern Lights and Shadows, p. 53. To pay for liquor for another is to 'stand,' or to 'shout,' or to 'sacrifice.' The measure is called a nobbler, or a break-down.
1859. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn xxxi. I had two nobblers of brandy and one of Old Tom.
