Nunyare, subs. (showmen's).—See quot.
1851-61. Mayhew, London Lab., vol. iii. 201. [Ethiopian serenader loq.] We could then, after our nunyare and buvare (that's what we call eat and drink, and I think it's broken Italian), carry home our 5/- or 6/- each, easy. Ibid., 149. We [strolling actors] call breakfast, dinner, tea, supper, all of them nunyare; and all beer, brandy, water, or soup, are beuvare.
Nup (or Nupson), subs.—A fool:
see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
1580. Lingua [Dodsley, Old Plays, v. 150]. 'Tis he indeed, the vilest nup; yet the fool loves me exceedingly. Ibid., v. 238. I say Phantastes is a foolish transparent gull; a mere fanatic nupson.
1596. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour; iv. 4. O that I were so happy as to light upon a nupson now.
1616. Ben Jonson, Devil is an Ass, ii. 2. Who having matched with such a nupson.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue., s.v.
Nuppence, subs. (American).—Nothing.
[From 'no pence,' on
the model of 'tuppence' = 2d.]
1886. A. Lang, in Longmans' Mag., vii. 551. The Americans can get our books, and do get them, and republish them and give us nothing—that awful minus quantity, nuppence!
Nuptiate, verb. (American).—To
marry; to get hitched (q.v.).
Nuremburg-egg, subs. phr. (old).—An
early kind of watch, oval in
shape. [Invented, c. 1500, in
Nuremburg].
Nurly, adj. and adv. (American).—Ill-tempered;
cross-grained.
[From 'gnarly'].—De Vere
(1872).
Nurse, subs. (common).—1. An
old man's maid, frequently doing
double duty—nurse and smock
servant (q.v.).
2. (nautical).—See quot.
1867. Smyth, Sailor's Word-Book, 502, s.v. Nurse. An able first lieutenant, who in former times had charge of a young boy-captain of interest, but possessing no knowledge for command.
3. See Wet-nurse.
Verb. (Old Cant).—1. To cozen.—Grose (1785).
2. (billiards').—To keep the three balls close in play so as to score successive cannons. Hence, nursery-business (q.v.).
3. (omnibus drivers').—To cheat an opposition bus of passengers by driving close in front or behind; two vehicles are generally employed to nurse the victim.
1858. Morning Chronicle, 8 Mar. The cause of the delay was that defendant was waiting to nurse one of their omnibuses.
1863. The Dean of Canterbury, in Good Words, p. 197. Many words are by rule hitched off with two commas; one before and one behind; nursed, as the Omnibus Company would call it.
1884. Echo, 7 May, 1, 4. Another phenomenal witness, a 'bus conductor, did not even know what nursing rivals meant.
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo. xvi. Some of 'em wanted to nurse me, but I managed to give the mare a touch of the spur and she flew out, the starter calling me to account.
1889. Man of the World, 29 June. Only a fortnight ago I witnessed an elderly man run over and killed in Qneen Victoria Street through this very cause. Surely a man's life is worth more than the gratification of the ambition of a nursing omnibus driver.
1900. Daily Telegraph, 22 Mar., 4, 6. A case of alleged nursing by rival omnibuses occupied a large part of the afternoon sitting.
To be at Nurse, verb. phr. (old).—To be in the hands of trustees.—Grose (1785).
