Nozzle, subs. (pugilists').—The nose: see Conk.—Grose (1785).
1871. G. Meredith, Harry Richmond, vii. 79 (1886). Fight, my merry one; she takes punishment, the prize-*fighter sang out. First blood to you, Kiomi; uncork his claret, my duck; straight at the nozzle, he sees more lamps than shine in London, I warrant.
Verb. (tailors').—1. To shrink: e.g., to nozzle the bottoms = to shrink the fronts of trousers. Also (2), to pawn.
Nth (or Nth plus one), subs.
(University).—See quot.
1864. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. . . . Nth, to the utmost degree. Thus Cut to the Nth means wholly unnoticed by a friend. The expression is taken from the index of a mathematical formula, where n stands for any number, and n plus 1 more than any number.
Nub, subs. (Old Cant).—1. The neck.—B. E. (c. 1696); Bailey (1728); Grose (1785); Matsell (1859).
2. (old).—Copulation: see Greens and Ride.—Grose (1785).
3. (Old Cant).—A husband.
Verb. (Old Cant).—To hang: see Ladder.
c.1712. Budg and Snudg Song [Farmer, Musa Pedestris (1896), 32]. When that he hath nubbed us.
1743. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv. ii. I am committed for the filing lay, man, and we shall be both nubbed together.
Nubbin, subs. (American).—A
remnant; a small remainder.
Nubbing, subs. (Old Cant).—1.
Hanging.—B. E. (c. 1696); New
Cant. Dict. (1725); Grose
(1785).
2. (Old Cant).—Copulation: see Greens and Ride.
Nubbing-cheat (or nubbling-chit),
subs. (Old Cant).—The
gallows, whence nubbing = a
hanging; nubbing-cove = the
hangman; and nubbing-ken =
the Sessions House.—B. E.
(c. 1696); New Cant. Dict.
(1725); Grose (1785).
English synonyms. Abraham's balsam (in botany = a species of willow); Beilby's ball-room; Chates (chattes or chats); City stage (formerly in front of Newgate; crap; deadly never-green; derrick; forks; government sign-post; hanging-cheat; horse foaled by an acorn; hotel door-posts; the ladder; leafless-tree; mare with three legs; Moll Blood (old Scots'); morning-drop; prop (Punch and Judy); the queer-'em (queer-'un, queer-'um); scrag; scrag-squeezer; sheriffs picture-frame; squeezer; stalk (Punch and Judy); the stifler; the swing; three-legged mare; three trees; topping cheat; Tower-hill vinegar (the swordsman's block); tree that bears fruit all the year round; tree with three corners; treyning-cheat; triple-tree; Tuck'em Fair; Tyburn cross; widow; wooden-legged mare.
French synonyms. L'abbaye de Monte-à-regret (= Mount Sorrowful Church: also l'abbaye de Monte-à-rebours, and l'abbaye de Saint-Pierre = cinq pierres, the five flag-stones in front of La Roquette); la bascule; le béquille (= crutch); la béquillarde; la butte-à-regret (= Heavy-Arse-Hill); les deux mâts, or le haut mât (old); l'éschelle (= Ladder, q.v.); la fenetre (in allusion to the aperture into which falls the knife); le géant; la jambe; la
