N
from The Liverpool English Dictionary
Summary
Nagur (n.): harsh, thoughtless person; general term of abuse. ‘That nagur of mine just comes home, pitches the brass on the table, and cuts away to his cronies’ (Shimmin 1863: 2). Recorded from 19c.; a northern variant of 14c. ‘niggardly’, ‘mean, stingy’.
Naller (v.): to catch. ‘We wuz nallered. We were captured’ (Shaw et al. 1966: 47). *NR; possibly from ‘nailed’ or ‘nab’ and ‘collar’.
Nan (n.): grandmother. ‘My nan saw me off’ (Flame 1984: 108). ‘I think I'll have words with me Nan’ (McGovern 1995: 8). ‘Me nan/nin My grandmother’ (Spiegl 2000b: 46). ‘When she was a kid at her nan's’ (Griffiths 2003: 28). Recorded as m.20c. in this sense; an abbreviation of the earlier ‘nana’ or a variant of nin.
Nance (n.): derogatory term for man characterised as ‘effeminate’; homosexual. ‘Nance: An effeminate male’ (Lane 1966: 74). ‘Malcolm Baker, what a nance. Wears knix an stockings under his pants’ (Griffiths 2000: 423). Recorded from e.20c.; abbreviation of l.19c. ‘nancy’, ‘homosexual’, from e.19c. ‘nancy’, ‘buttocks’.
Nap (n.): a certainty. ‘It's more or less a nap’ (Jacques 1975: n.p.). ‘It's a fucking nap, by the way’ (Sampson 2002: 190). Recorded from l.20c.; an extension of l.19c. ‘nap’, ‘tip’.
Nark (n.): argumentative, annoying person. ‘A little nark, who was called Sir Stanley Grouse’ (Jacques 1977: n.p.). ‘An obvious nark, in everyone's eyes’ (Fagan 2007 [1950s]: 103). Recorded from m.19c.; from l.19c. northern dialectal ‘to nark’, ‘to vex, annoy, irritate’.
Nark (n.): state of anger, irritation. ‘Not hardened junkies, when deprived of dope,/Ere felt such anger, ere got such a nark/As a Scouseville driver seeking space to park’ (Moloney 1966: 51). ‘She must still have had the nark on’ (Bleasdale 1975: 81). *NR in this sense; an extension of nark.
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- Information
- The Liverpool English DictionaryA Record of the Language of Liverpool 1850–2015 on Historical Principles, pp. 159 - 165Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2017