Chapter Nunc Stans to Nyse of N by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Nunc Stans to Nyse

Nunc Stans The everlasting Now.

“It exists in the nunc stans of the schoolmen- the eternal Now that represented the consciousness of the Supreme Being in mediaeval thought.”- Nineteenth Century, December, 1892, p. 953.

Nuncupative Will A will or testament made by word of mouth. As a general rule, no will is valid unless reduced to writing and signed; but soldiers and sailors may simply declare their wish by word of mouth. (Latin, nuncupo, to declare.)

Nunky pays for all (See Sam. )

Nuremberg Eggs Watches. Watches were invented at Nuremberg about 1500, and were egg-shaped.

Nurr and Spell or Knor and Spill. A game resembling trapball, and played with a wooden ball called a nurr or knor. The ball is released by means of a spring from a little brass cup at the end of a tongue of steel called a spell or spill. After the player has touched the spring, the ball flies into the air, and is struck with a bat. In scoring, the distances are reckoned by the score feet, previously marked off by a Gunter's chain. The game is played frequently in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Nurse an Omnibus (To) is to try and run it off the road. This is done by sending a rival omnibus close at its heels, or, if necessary, one before and one behind it, to pick up the passengers. As a nurse follows a child about regardless of its caprices, so these four-wheel nurses follow their rival.

Nurseries In the language of horse-racing, handicaps for two-year-old horses. These horses can be run only with horses of their own age, after the 1st September; and before the 1st July must not run more than six furlongs in length.

Nursery Tales Well-known ones:-
   ARABIAN NIGHTS: Aladdin's Lamp, The Forty Thieves, Sinbad the Sailor, and hundreds more.
   CARROLL (Lewis): Alice in Wonderland, Hunting the Snark, etc.
   D'AULNOY (Mme.): King of the Peacocks, The Blue Bird, and many others.
   FOUQUE. De la Motte: Undine.
   GOLDSMITH (Oliver): Goody Twoshoes. 1765.
   GRIMM: Goblin Tales.
   JOHNSON (Richard): The Seven Champions of Christendom.
   KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN (Lord Brabourne): Stories for Children, etc.
   LE SAGE: The Devil on Two Sticks.
   PERRAULT, Charles (A Frenchman): Blue Board, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Riquet with the Tuft, Sleeping Beauty, etc.
   RIDLEY (James): Tales of the Genii.
   SCANDINAVIAN: Jack-and the Beanstalk, Jack the Giant-killer, and some others.
   SOUTHEY: The Three Bears.
   STRAPAROLA (an Italian): Fortunatus
   SWIFT (Dean): Gulliver's Travels.
   VILLENEUVE (Mme): Beauty and the Beast
    It is said that the old nursery rhyme about an old woman tossed in a blanket was written as a satire against the French expedition of Henry V., and the cobwebs to be swept from the sky were the points of contention between the King of England and the King of France.

Nut A hard nut to crack. A difficult question to answer; a hard problem to solve. (Anglo-Saxon, hnut, a nut.)
   He who would eat the nut must first crack the shell. The gods give nothing to man without great labour, or “Nil sine magno vita labore dedit mortalibus.” “Qui nucleum esse vult, frangit nucem” (Plautus). In French, “Il faut casser le noyau pour en avoir l'amande.” It was Heraclides who said, “Expect nothing without toil.”
   If you would reap, you also must plough
   For bread must be earned by the sweat of the brow. E.C.B.

Nuts of May Here we go gathering nuts of May. A corruption of knots or springs of May. We still speak of “love-knots,” and a bunch of flowers is called a “knot.”

Nuts Heads; so called from their resemblance to nuts. Probably “crack,” applied to heads, is part of the same figure of speech.

“To go off their nuts about ladies,
As dies for young fellars as fights.”
Sims: Dagonet Ballads (Polly).

   It is time to lay our nuts aside (Latin, Relinquere nuces). To leave off our follies, to relinquish boyish pursuits.