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Glossary (words starting with N)

nag small horse or pony

naked nude or, perhaps more likely, wearing only underwear (OED adj. 1a); poorly or inadequately clothed (OED adj. 3a); destitute, without resources (OED adj. 3b)

naked plain, free from concealment (or depth); lacking, bare (OED adj and n2, 17a and 4a)

naked bare

nakedness openness to attack or injury; vulnerability, defencelessness (OED 4)

Nam a diminutive of Ambrose or Abraham

name title

name reputation

name (n) reputation; the king’s name

name (v) repeat

nameless anonymous, deliberately left unnamed

Nan a diminutive of Hannah

Nan diminutive for Anne

Nant a familiar version of 'aunt'

nap short sleep, snooze (OED n.3); punning on woolly material removed from the surface of cloth by shearing, esp. considered as the stuffing of pillows, mattresses, etc. (OED n.2).

napkin a small rectangular piece of cloth or a small towel

narrow rigorous, painstaking

nation entire population (OED n. 1e)

nation class or kind of people (OED n 6a)

nativity horoscope; conjunction of stars at one's birth

nativity birth

natural legitimate, actual

natural related by birth (OED adj. 15c)

natural innate, inherited

natural 'a person having a low learning ability or intellectual capacity' (OED)

natural fool born simpleton (as distinct from a professional court fool)

nature character, disposition

nature human nature, character (OED n. 7a); instinctive physical response

naught worthless, nothing, useless (OED adj. C1a)

naughty-packs either 'a promiscuous or licentious woman; a prostitute' or 'an immoral or promiscuous man' (OED 11a)

Naunt familiar shortform for mine aunt

ne no (often found in Northern English or Scots)

ne OED (adv. 1)no (Yorkshire dialect form)

ne'er never

near close (often in the sense of loosely related by blood or kindred); affectionately dear (to one)

near intimate

nearer closer, more intimate

nearest closest, most intimate

nearly closely

nearly close by one another

neat habitually clean and tidy; fastidious (OED adj. 4a)

neat-timbered well-built

neatest most skilful

neb beak or bill of a bird (also used figuratively therefore for the mouth)

necessaries essential items

necessaries indispensable items, necessities

necessitated reduced by necessity (OED adj. 2)

necessities obligations, duties (but also with sense of pressing wants or needs)

necessitous impoverished, needy; obliged to do something out of need

necromancy 'The art of predicting the future by supposed communication with the dead; (more generally) divination, sorcery, witchcraft, enchantment (OED n. 1a)

nectar the drink of the gods in classical mythology, also used to refer to wine and other drinks

nectar the drink of the gods

needlesses needlessness, pointlessness (OED records no use of "needless" as a noun as here)

negotiate communicate official orders (concerning forms of punishment or execution)

negotiating doing business or trade (OED v. 1b)

neighbourhood neighbourly feeling, goodwill between neighbours

neither reinforcing a preceding negative, so with a sense of 'what is more' (OED 3a, which cites a similar usage in The Northern Lass)

neme a Fool's affectionate name for his superior

nest cradle

nestling nesting (as in the behaviour of birds)

net-pin OED glosses as ‘a pin used in net making’ and cites The Queen and Concubine as its only example (OED net n1, C 1c)

nether lower, under (OED adj, 2a)

netherstocks stockings: `nether' meaning `lower', `netherstock[ing]s' were hose which covered the lower part of the leg

nets traps, means of catching or securing someone or something (OED n1. 1b)

netting meshwork (as in embroidery)

nettle vex, provoke, annoy (OED v. 2a)

never a whit not at all, not the least bit

never-dying immortal

newsbringer deliverer of news

next quickest

neyes eyes

ne’ertheless nevertheless

nice foolish (OED 1a), fussy (OED 3b)

nick a slang term for the female genitals (OED n1. 2d; Williams, 2: 947)

nick groove (OED n. 2)

niggardise niggardliness, stinginess, meanness (OED niggardise n, and niggarliness n)

niggling fornicating

nigh nearly

nigh near

nigh near; nearly

night-caps caps worn in bed or with nightclothes, skull-caps; for examples of late sixteenth century men’s nightcaps see John L. Nevinson, Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (London: HMSO, 1950), plate LXIV

night-work

night-work work done at night, sometimes with sexual implications (OED n.): the majority of references in early modern drama and poetry are to sex and/or prostitution (Brome himself refers to Peregrine’s ‘good night-work with his bride’ in The Antipodes [AN 5.1.speech924]. See, however, Nicholas Hookes’ ‘To Mr. John Mors, Merchant in King’s Lynn, on the Death of Mrs. A. Mors his Wife’, in Amanda, a Sacrifice to an Unknown Goddess, or, A Free-Will Offering of a Loving Heart to a Sweet-Heart (London, 1653), which offers a description of the deceased woman’s prowess with her needle:

In shadows she would veil a physiognomy,
Then work a candle and light, to see it by;
’Tis true most women good at night-work be,
But few or none so good, so neat as she
(118)

nimble quick-witted, clever

ninepins "a game in which nine skittles are set up to be knocked down by a ball or bowl"

ningle close male friend, confidant (but also used in derogatory way to suggest a subservient homosexual lover)

ninnyhammer a blockhead, a fool or braggart (OED)

nip a pinch

no snail no sluggard; not an indolent person

no whit not at all

nobles English gold coins first minted by Edward III, usually valued at 6s 8d (OED n1. 2a)

noblesse nobility of character or mind (OED n. 1a)

nod doze, sleep on the job; also means ‘to overlook or connive at an offence’ (OED v, 2b) and ‘to be momentarily inattentive or inaccurate; to make a slip or mistake’ (OED v. 2c: earliest citation is William Hughes, The Man of Sin, or, A Discourse of Popery [London, 1677]: ‘We see a Jesuit may sometimes nod as well as Homer’ [19-20]

noddle head (OED n. 1b)

noddy a fool, a simpleton (Cf. NOD n, 2; now rare) (OED 1 and 2)

noise disturbance, clamour; common talk; reputation

noise rumour, news

nolens volens whether willing or not (OED)

Noll a diminutive of Oliver

nonpareil unrivalled, unequalled person

noonings 'rests' taken around noon

nor and if, since

nor neither

nosed of beaten to (OED nose v1, 5c)

nosegays bouquets

not alone not only

not worth gramercy not worth giving thanks for

notable noteworthy, remarkable (OED adj. 1)

notable excellent, eminent; in the negative sense, notorious

note single tone of definite pitch (i.e. a musical note)

note (v) observe, pay attention to

notes intelligence, warning, information (OED n2. 11b)

notes single tones of a definite pitch (i.e. musical notes)

notice take no notice of: have no knowledge/awareness of

notorious in a positive sense, well known, commonly or generally known; in the negative, flagrantly sinful

nought nothing

noverint term applied to a scrivener (the phrase Noverint universi per praesentes [Let all men know by these present], begins most writs)

now-she-start-up female social climber or upstart

number in number: altogether

number ‘the full count of a collection or company of persons’ (OED n. 8a)

numbers verse, poetry

nuptials wedding, marriage (OED nuptial n, 1a)

nursekeeper a nurse who tends the sick (OED)

nurseling a person bred in or fostered by a particular place, or conditions (OED 2a)

nursled raised

nuzzle nestle on or close to (some part of) a person; push or thrust (one's nose, head, face, etc.) intimately against

nymph semi-divine spirit in classical mythology, often the spirit of a river, tree, etc. (OED n1. 1); a slang term for a prostitute (OED n1. 2a); damsel, maiden (OED n1. 2b)