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 Nottingham Lamb. See Lamb, subs., sense 2.

Nous, subs. (literary).—Sense; shrewdness. [From the Greek nous].

1678. Cudworth, Intell. System, Bk. 1. iv. 406. But in other places of his Writings he frequently asserts, above the self-moving Psyche an Immovable and standing Nous or Intellect, which was properly the Demiurgus, or Architectonic Framer of the whole World.

1729. Pope, Dunciad, iv. 244. Terine is the genuine head of many a house, And much Divinity without a nous.

a.1706. Wolcot ('Peter Pindar'), i. 229. Oh! aid, as lofty Homer says, my nouse To sing sublime the Monarch and the Louse.

1800. R. Polwhele, in Biogr. Sk. in Cornwall, ii. App. p. 37. In admiration of my own keen nous That framed the model of so fine a house.

1819. Byron, Don Juan, ii. cxxx. The good old man had so much nous.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Nous—uppishness; 'to be up,' is to be nous; but this latter is chiefly confined to the gambling-houses—hells.

1827. Reynolds, The Fancy, 'The Fields of Tothill.' Most men of any nous will tell you this.

1838. Comic Almanack, 133. No doubt it's very wrong, and shows but little nous, To go a tea-drinking, and making merry.

1839-47. Todd, Cyc. Anat. and Phys., iii. p. 144/2. Aristotle regarded the nous or reasoning faculties as separable from the remainder of the psyche.

1840-45. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ii. 247. Dont fancy, because a man's nous seems to lack, That whenever you please, you can give him the sack.

1846. Hood, Poems, 92. But where's the reverence or where the nous, To ride on one's religion thro' the lobby.

1862. Thackeray, Phillip, ii. ch. xvii. (1887), p. 244. The fellow has not nous enough to light upon any scientific discovery more useful than a new sauce for cutlets.

1870. London Figaro, 26 Oct. A Bab Ballad.' When burglars came to rob his house, He never failed their chief to thank; And, to reward their skilful nous, Would hand them cheques upon his bank.

1877. Reade, Woman Hater, xiv. (1883), p. 136. It is only of late I have had the nous to see how wise she is.

c.1880. J. G. Saxe, Wife's Revenge. The literal Germans call it Mutterwiss, The Yankees gumption, and the Grecians nous. A useful thing to have about the house.

Nous-box, subs. (common).—The head. Cf. knowledge-box: see Crumpet.—Grose (1823); Matsell (1859).

Nova, adj. (showmen's).—Nine.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xiv. There I bought the lot from big-headed Tom for nova soldi, and as you are gen-a-men you can have it for the same.

Novelty, The, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum: see Monosyllable.

Nowhere, adv. (common).—Not in the reckoning; so far behind as not to be. [A reminiscence of that 'Eclipse first, and the rest nowhere,' which described the victory of a famous horse].

1852. Miss Wetherell, Queechy, x. All start alike, or there's no fun in the race. You've fairly distanced us—left us nowhere.

1859. Spirit of the Times [De Vere, 620]. Where was Flora? Flora? why, she was nowhere—came in last but one.

1869. J. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London. The brave Panther when he has once crossed the threshold of that splendid damsel (who, by the way, is a thief, and addicted to drinking brandy by the 'bumper') is, vulgarly speaking, nowhere.

1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 620, s.v. Nowhere, to be, denotes utter failure or complete ignorance.

1884. Mrs. Oliphant, Madam, xxvii. You are kept in such a state till the last moment, not knowing which is to win. Sometimes the favourite is simply nowhere.