Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 5.pdf/27

 1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, iii., iii. My wines, which I never adulterated after their importation, and were sold as neat as they came over.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, viii. He judged the cordial to be no other than neat Cogniac.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., etc., i., 397. I was obliged to drink rum; it wouldn't ha' done to ha' drunk the water neat, there was so many insects in it.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, i. I should take a small glass of brandy neat. Mind, no spoiling the effect with water.

As neat as (a bandbox, a new pin, wax, ninepence), phr. (colloquial).—As neat as may be.

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, iii., 3 (Three Plays, 36). We've nobbled him, as neat as ninepence.

Neat, but not gaudy: as the devil said when he painted his bottom red, and tied up his tail with sky-blue ribbon, phr. (common).—Spick and span; 'fresh as a daisy.'

1887. Lippincott's Mag., July, p. 116. I have sent, I say, just such manuscript as editors call for, fair, clean, written on one side, not with a pencil, but with a good gold pen, stamps enclosed for return if declined; the whole thing 'neat, but not gaudy, as the monkey said' on the memorable occasion 'when he painted his tail sky-blue.'

1892. Society, 6 Aug., p. 757, col. 1. Tennyson when in a rage is neat and not gaudy.

Neb (or Nib), subs. (old colloquial: now recognised).—1. Originally the bill of a bird; hence the face, mouth, or nose: specifically [B. E. (c. 1696), Grose (1785), and Matsell (1859)] of a woman.

c.1225. Ancren Riwle, 90. Scheau thi leoue neb to me.

c.1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Neb. She holds up her neb: she turns up her mouth to be kissed.

2. (old colloquial: now recognised).—A pen.—B. E. (c. 1696); Grose (1785).

3. (old).—The neck.

1535. Coverdale, Bible, Gen. viii., 11. Beholde she had broken of a leaf of an olyue tre and bare it on her nebb.

d.1622. Bacon, Nat. Hist. Take a glasse with a belly and a long neb.

Nebuchadnezzar, subs. (venery).—1. The penis. [From its taste for Greens (q.v.)]. See Prick. To take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass = to copulate. See Greens and Ride.

2. (common).—A vegetarian.

Necessary, subs. (old).—1. A bedfellow. See Tart.

2. (old colloquial).—A privy. Also necessary house (or vault).

1609. Field, Woman is a Weathercock, iv., 2. She showed me to a necessary vault. Within a closet in the chamber too.

1611. Field, Amends for Ladies, ii., 4. I met her in the necessary house i' th' morning.

c.1786. Morris, The Plenipotentiary. For fancied delight To frig in the school necessary.

Neck, verb (old).—1. To hang: see Ladder. Whence, neck-*cloth (neckinger, necklace, neck-squeezer, or necktie) = a halter; necktie-sociable = a hanging done by a Vigilance Committee; neck-question = a hanging matter, something vital; neck-verse, see quot, 1696; neck-weed = hemp, or gallows-grass (q.v.); TO wear a hempen necktie, etc. = to be hanged.