NO GO, adv. phr. (common). —NO USE; impossible. Fr. zut! and ça ne mord pas.
1830. Moncrieff, Heart of London, i. 1. I'm much obliged to you: it's no go.
1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, xix. But it's no go with old Smallsole, if I want a bit of caulk.
1848. Ruxton, Life in Far West, 146. Outside is no go.
1852. Notes and Queries, 17 Jan. Ser. 1. v. 55. My publisher coolly answered that it was no go.
1871. Daily News, 17 April, p. 2. col. 2. How many beyond those mentioned in the foregoing remarks have been backed in earnest, I should not like to say; and it strikes me that it is a case of no go with Autocrat, Sarsfield . . . .
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, viii. Well, I tried to get some banjo pupils—no go; no testimonials.
1896. Farjeon, Betray. John Fordham, III, 281. But it was no go; them as gathered round wouldn't part.
NO KID, adv. phr. (common). —No mistake.
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xx. I was knocked silly and taken to the same 'orspital, and when I woke I was in bed, my boko all plastered up like a broken arm, and a gal in a white hat and blue dress a-waiting on me—a real lady, no kid.
NO MOSS, phr. (tailors').— No animosity.
NO NAME, NO PULL, phr. (tailors').—If I name no names there can be no libel = if I do not mention his name he cannot take offence, unless he likes to apply the remarks to himself.
NO ODDS, adv. phr. (colloquial).—No matter; of no consequence.
1855. Dickens, Little Dorrit, 1. ch. xix. 'How vexatious, Chivery?' asked the benignant father. 'No odds,' returned Mr. Chivery. 'Never mind.'
NO REPAIRS. See Repairs.
NOAH'S ARK, subs, (common).—1.
A long closely-buttoned overcoat.
[A coinage of Punch: from
a similarity to the wooden figures
in a toy ark.]
2. (nautical).—See quot.
1867. Smyth, Sailors' Word-book, 408, s.v. Noah's Ark, Certain clouds elliptically parted, considered a sign of fine weather after rain.
3. (rhyming slang).—A lark (q.v.).
1887. Sims, Referee, Nov. 7. Tottie She cried, What a Noah's Ark.
NOAKES. See John o' Noakes.
NOB, subs, (common).—1. The
head: see Crumpet.—B. E.
(c. 1696); Grose (1785).
1733. Kane O'Hara, Tom Thumb, i.4. Do pop up your nob again, And egad I'll crack your crown.
1782. Parker, Humorous Sketches, 155. Here no despotic power shews oppression's haughty nob.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Mem., p. 23. With daddies high uprais'd, and nob held back, In awful prescience of th' impending thwack.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, etc., s.v. Nob. 'Josh paid his respects pretty plentifully to the Yokel's nob.' 'His nob' was pinked all over,' i.e. marked in sundry places.
1834. Dowling, Othello Travestie, i. 3. A thought has crossed my nob.
1837. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (1857), 360. Leave off rattlin' that 'ere nob o'yourn, if you don't want it to come off the springs altogether, said Sam impatiently, and behave reasonable.
1840. Barham, Ingoldsby Leg. (Black Mousquetaire). Whom I once saw receive, such a thump on the nob From a fist which might almost an elephant brain.
1845. Punch, ix. 9. Getting the nob into chancery is a fine achievement, I once got several nobs into chancery; and I certainly gave several of them severe punishment.
