Chapter Nosey to Noyades of N by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

ut vivas, ne vivas ut edas.
   Whig. W e H ope I n G od.
   Wise. W ales, I reland, S cotland, E ngland- i.e. Wales, Ireland, and Scotland added to England.

Notary Public A law officer whose duty it is to attest deeds, to make authentic copies of documents, to make protests of bills, and to act as a legal witness of any formal act of public concern.

Notation or Notes. (See Do.)

Notch Out of all notch. Out of all bounds. The allusion is to the practice of fitting timber: the piece which is to receive the other is notched upon; the one to fit into the notch is said to be notched down.

Note of Hand (A). A promise to pay made in writing and duly signed.

Nothing “A tune played by the picture of nobody.” (Shakespeare: Tempest, iii. 2.)

Notoriety Depraved taste for notoriety:-
   Cleombrotos, who leaped into the sea. (See Cleombrotos.)
   Empedocles, who leaped into Etna. (See Empedocles.)
   Herostratos, who set fire to the temple of Diana. (See Diana.)
   William Lloyd, who broke in pieces the Portland vase. (1845.)
   Jonathan Martin, who set fire to York Minster. (1829.)

Nottingham (Saxon, Snotingaham, place of caves). So called from the caverns in the soft sandstone rock. Montecute took King Edward III. through these subterranean passages to the hill castle, where he found the “gentle Mortimer” and Isabella, the dowager-queen. The former was slain, and the latter imprisoned. The passage is still called “Mortimer's Hole.”
   Nottingham poet. Philip James Bailey, author of Festus. Born at Bashford-in-the-Burgh, Nottingham. (1816.)

Nottingham Lambs The roughs of Nottingham.

Nourmahal Sultana. The word means Light of the Harem. She was afterwards called Nourjehan (Light of the World). In Lalla Rookh, the tale called The Light of the Harem is this: Nourmahal was estranged for a time from the love of Selim, son of Acbar. By the advice of Namouna, she prepares a love-spell, and appears as a lute-player at a banquet given by “the imperial Selim.” At the close of the feast she tries the power of song, and the young sultan exclaims, “If Nourmahal had sung those strains I could forgive her all;” whereupon the sultana threw off her mask, Selim “caught her to his heart,” and, as Nourmahal rested her head on Selim's arm, “she whispers him, with laughing eyes, `Remember, love, the Feast of Roses.' ” (Thomas Moore.)

Nous (1 syl.). Genius, natural acumen, quick perception, ready wit. The Platonists used the word for mind, or the first cause. (Greek, nous, contraction of noos Pronounce nouce.)

Nous Avons Change Tout Cela A facetious reproof to a dogmatic prig who wants to lay down the law upon everything, and talks contemptuously of old customs, old authors, old artists, and old everything. The phrase is taken from Molière's Médecin Malgré Lui, act ii. sc. vi. (1666.)

“Géronte. Il n'y a qu' seule chose qui m'a choqué; c'est l'endroit du foie et du cœur. Il me semble que vous les placez autrement qu'ils ne sont; que le cœur est du côte gauche, et le foie du côte droit
   Sganarelle. Oui; cela étoit autrefois ainsi; mais nous avons changé tout cela, et nous faisons maintenant la médecine d'une méthode toute nouvelle.
   Géronte. C'est ce que je ne savois pas, et je vous demande pardon de mon ignorance.”

Novatians Followers of Novatianus, a presbyter of Rome in the third century, who would never allow anyone who had lapsed to be readmitted into the church.

November 17 (See Queen's Day .)

Novum Organum The great work of Lord Bacon.