Chapter Nadir Shah to Name of N by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

ceremony for warding off calamities from the city. Originally the nail was driven in the wall by the praetor maximus, subsequently by one of the consuls, and lastly by the dictator. (See Livy, vii. 3.).

Nail in One's Coffin To drive a nail into one's coffin. To shorten life by anxiety, drink, etc. Topers call a dram “a nail in their coffin,” in jocular allusion to the teetotal axiom.

“Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt;
But every grin so merry draws one out.”
Peter Pindar (John Wolcot): Expostulatory Odes, Ode xv.

Nail One's Colours to the Mast (To). To refuse to surrender. When the colours are nailed to the mast they cannot be lowered in proof of submission.

Nailed Caught and secured in jail. (See Clou .)
   I nailed him (or it.) I hooked him, I pinned him, meaning I secured him. Isaiah (xxii. 23) says, “I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place.” However, the idea may still be, I secured him by making him pay down the earnest on The Nail. (See Pay on the Nail, second clause.)

Nails driven into Cottage Walls This was a Roman practice, under the notion that it kept off the plague. L. Manlius was named dictator (A.U.C. 390) “to drive the nail.”
   Our cottagers still nail horseshoes to thresholds to ward off evil spirits. Mr. Coutts, the banker, had two rusty horse-shoes fastened on the highest step outside Holly Lodge.

Nails of the Cross The nails with which our Lord was fastened to the cross were, in the Middle Ages, objects of great reverence. Sir John Maundeville says, “He had two in his hondes, and two in his feet; and of on of theise the emperour of Canstantynoble made a brydille to his hors, to bere him in bataylle; and throughe vertue thereof he overcam his enemyes” (c. vii.). Fifteen are shown as relics (See Iron Crown .)

Nain Rouge A Lutin or goblin of Normandy, kind to fishermen. There is another called Le petit homme rouge.

Naivete (pron. nah'-eve-ty). Ingenuous simplicity; the artless innocence of one ignorant of the conventions of society. The term is also applied to poetry, painting, and sculpture. The word is formed from the Latin natus, natura, etc., meaning nature without art.

Naked Lady Meadow saffron (Colchicum Autumnale). Called naked because, like the almond, peach, etc., the flowers come out before the leaves. It is poetically called “the leafless orphan of the year,” the flowers being orphaned or destitute of foliage. Some call it “Naked Boy,” and the “Naked Boy Courts” of London were places where meadow saffron was sold.

Naked Truth The fable says that Truth and Falsehood went bathing; Falsehood came first out of the water, and dressed herself in Truth's garments. Truth, unwilling to take those of Falsehood, went naked.

Nakeer (See Munkar .)

Nala a legendary king of India, whose love for Damayanti and subsequent misfortunes have supplied subjects for numerous poems. Dean Milman has translated into English the episode from the Mahâbhârata, and W. Yates the famous Sanskrit poem called Nalodaya.

Nama A daughter of the race of man, who was beloved by the angel Zaraph. Her one wish was to love purely, intensely, and holily; but she fixed her love on a seraph, a creature, more than on her Creator; therefore, in punishment, she was condemned to abide on earth, “unchanged in heart and frame,” so long as the earth endureth; but when time is no more, both she and her angel lover will be admitted into those courts “where love never dies.” (Moore: Loves of the Angels, story iii.)

Namby Pamby Philips Ambrose Philips (1671-1749). His nickname was bestowed upon him by Harry Carey, the dramatist, for his verses addressed to Lord Carteret's children, and was adopted by Pope.