Numskull, subs. (old: now colloquial).—A simpleton: see Buffle and Cabbage-head.—B. E. (c. 1696); New Cant. Dict. (1725); Grose (1785).
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull Still in his Senses, iii. i. Arber's Garner, vi. 614. D— this numbed skull of mine, quoth he, that I could not light on it sooner.
1728. Vanbrugh, Journey to London, i. 2. Thou art a numskull I see already.
1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, iii. xii. His wife . . . told him he would never leave following the nonsensical dictates of his own numskull, till she and her family were ruined.
1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii. 1. You numskulls! and so while like your betters, you are quarrelling for places, the guests must be starved.
1859. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, ii. iv. I dined, myself, while those NUMSKULLS were deliberating which world you should belong to—this, or some other.
Numskulled, adj. (old).—Foolish;
silly.
1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, i. xii. Have you no more manners than to rail at my husband, that has saved that clodpated, numskulled, ninny-hammer of yours from ruin.
1856. Punch's Ess. of Parliament, xxx. 61. Such blockheads as Vincent Scully ruin whatever cause they advocate. Mr. Punch means to get Vincent the Royal licence to call himself, as other people call him, Num scully.
Nun, subs. (old).—A prostitute: cf.
Abbess. Also Covent garden
nun. See Barrack-hack and
Tart. Hence nun's flesh = a
cold temperament.
1608-10. Swift, Polite Conversation, i. Col. Faith, you'll never lead Apes in Hell. Neverout. No, no, I'll be sworn Miss has not an Inch of Nun's Flesh about her.
1777. Randall, Excursion round London, 33. A couple of nuns out of Hedge-lane, Bet Brazer and Charlotte Cheap.
1770. Foote, Lame Lover, i. Last night . . . who should trip by but an abbess, well known about town with a smart little nun in her suite.
1821. Egan, Life in London, ii. i. Those three nymphs . . . are three nuns; and the plump female is of great notoriety and generally designated the abbess.
Nunky (Nunks or Nuncle), subs.
(colloquial).—An uncle [Nuncle
= mine uncle: once the customary
address of the licensed fool to his
superiors].
1599. Porter, Two Angry Women [Dodsley (Old Plays), vii. 381]. I' faith, I should be glad To have myself called nuncle, and thou dad.
1684. Lacy, Sir Hercules Buffoon, ii. 3. Now good my Hony nuncle, let us not gea to France, but send me back to my Naunt at York again.
1760. Foote, Minor, ii. p. 57. I suppose this is a spice of your foreign breeding, to let your uncle kick his heels in your hall . . . Sir George. Oh, a proof of my respect, dear nuncle.
1841. Comic Alwanack, 291. But where's the stoic can resist When pretty lips so sweetly coax? Come, nunks, one game at Blindman's-buff.
1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. Wallace now fought him with both hands and got all the best of the exchanges. Mr. Bull, Good, my little nunky!
1892. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, 1. vii. p. 16. I don't mind telling you that nunkey Lawson's a customer of George's.
Nunnery, subs. (old).—A brothel;
cf. Abbess and Nun. See
Nanny-house.—Grose (1785);
Halliwell (1847).
1822. Egan, Real Life, ii. 182. Having visited a certain nunnery in the precincts of Pall-Mall.
Nunquam, subs. (old).—See quot.
[From the Latin].
1560-1. Awdeley, Fraternitye of Vacabondes, leaf 9. Nunquam is he that when his Maister sendeth him on his errand he wil not come againe of an hour or two.
