Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 5.pdf/84

 Nut-cracker, subs. (pugilists').—1. The head; (2) a sharp blow on it; and (3) in pl. the fists.

4. in pl. (old).—See quot. 1696.—Hall, Memoirs (1708); Grose (1785).

c.1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Nut-crackers. The cull looked through the nut crackers, the rogue stood in the pillory.

5. in pl. (common).—A curving nose and protruding chin.

6. (common).—The teeth: see Grinders.

7. (military).—The Third Foot. See Buff Howards.

1871. Chambers's Journal, 23 Dec., 802. The 3rd Foot, best known as the 'Old Buffs,' their accoutrements having been the first that were made of buffalo leather, possess two other sobriquets, the Nut-crackers and the 'Resurrectionists.'

Nut-hook, subs. (old).—See quot. 1755.

1598. Shakspeare, Henry IV., Nuthook, nuthook, you lie.

1755. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Nuthook anciently, I know not why, a name of contempt.

Nutmegs, subs. (venery).—The testes; the cods (q.v.).—Grose (1785); Halliwell (1847).

16[?]. Hist. of Jack Horner(1697), p. 13. My precious nutmegs doe not wound, For fear I should not live.

Wooden nutmegs, subs. phr. (American).—See quot. 1872.

1871. Congress-Globe, March [De Vere, 620]. I leave the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts to his Wooden Nutmegs and silver spoons; he will receive his deserts before the people are done with him.

1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 620, s.v. Nutmegs, when made of wood, as were those immortalized by Sam Slick, have become so familiar to the public mind, that they have passed into a slang term for any cunning deception. Not only is Connecticut called the Nutmeg State—although a factious native says the true reason is 'because you will have to look for a grater,'—but in the press and in Congress Wooden Nutmegs have to answer for forged telegrams, political tricks and falsified election-returns.

Nutmeg-state, subs. phr. (American).—Connecticut. [A nick name of Judge Haliburton's].

1851. Allin, Home Ballads, 19. Still give me the Nutmeg State—Where shall we find a grater?

Nutshell. In a nutshell, phr. (colloquial).—In small compass. Condensed; 'boiled down.'

1622. Fletcher, Spanish Curate, ii. 1. All I have to lose, Diego, is my learning; And, when he has gotten that, he may put it in a nut-shell.

a.1745. Swift, Tale of a Tub, vii. I have sometimes heard of an Iliad in a nut-*shell.

1866. W. Collins, Armadale, iii. A nervous patient who is never worried is a nervous patient cured. There it is in a nutshell.

Nutted, adj. (common).—Deceived by a false friend.

Nutty, adj. and adv. (common).—1. See quot. 1823. Also = fascinating.

1821. Egan, Life in London, 230. He was so nutty upon the charms of his fair one.

1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Nutty—sweet, amatory; bestowed by bucks upon buxom landladies, and spruce bar-maids.

1827. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf 183. Jemmy became quite nutty, and often repeated his visits.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, 116 (ed. 1864). But my nuttiest blowen, one fine day, To the beaks did her fancy-man betray.