1700. Step to the Bath [quoted in Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Q. Anne, v. ii. p. 168]. I ask'd what Countrey-man my Landlord was? answer was made, Full North; and Faith 'twas very Evident, for he had put the Yorkshire most damnably upon us.
1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, iii. p. 39. Her husband—who, however far gone he may be in liquor, is a long way too far north to 'list in reality.
Northallertons. See quot.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. Northallertons. Spurs; that place, like Rippon, being famous for making them.
North country compliment, subs. phr. (common).—A gift not wanted by the giver nor valued by the receiver.
North-easter, subs, (old American).—A New England sixpence or shilling temp. Charles I. [On one side were the letters N.E.]
North-eye, subs. phr. (showmen's).—[As in quot., but failure has followed all attempts to ascertain the meaning].
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xiv. Don't get your back up only having a bit of chaff with your North Eye.
Northumberland, Lord Northumberland's Arms, subs. phr, (old).—See quot.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. Northumberland. Lord Northumberland's arms; a black eye: so called in the last century.
Norway neckcloth, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, Norway Neckcloth, the pillory, usually made of Norway fir.
Norwicher, subs, (old).—An unfair drinker; i.e., a man who, taking first pull at a tankard, does not draw breath till he has pretty well emptied the pot.
1896. Athenæum, 15 Aug., p. 168. Thirsty souls! there was no resisting it. Half-a-dozen old Norwichers, after a bout of this sort, would become as hilarious and would dance as uproariously as half-a-dozen Egyptians, full of the barleywine of Memphis.
Nose, subs. (old).—1. An informer. Fr., une riflette; une tante; une soulasse, and une sondeur.
1789. Parker, Life's Painter, 167, s.v. Nose. Snitch.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v.
1828. Bee, Living Picture of London, 286. They are frequently made use of as noses by the officers.
1836. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), 356. Now Bill, . . . Who as his last speech sufficiently shows Was a 'regular trump'—did not like to turn Nose?
1838. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad, 223. I was never a nose for the regulars came Whenever a pannie was done.
2. (police).—A paid spy; A shadow (q.v.); A nark (q.v.). Also noser.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. A person who, seeing one or more suspicious characters in the street, makes a point of watching them, in order to frustrate any attempt they may make, or cause their apprehension.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue [Egan], s.v. Nose.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i. 391. I live in Westminster, at a padding-ken. I'd rather not tell you where, not I've anything to fear, but people might think I was a nose, if anybody came after me.
1862. Cornhill Mag., ii. 336. There are a few men and women among thieves called nosers. They are so called because they are in the secret pay of the police, giving information when the information will not lead to the crimination of themselves.
1877. J. Greenwood, Dick Temple. How could they know that there wasn't a nose—that is a detective p'liceman—there in disguise?
