subs. (common).—1. The head: see CRUMPET.—B. E. (c. 1696); GROSE (1785).
1780. KANE O’HARA, Tom Thumb, i. 4.
| Do pop up your NOB again, | |
| And egad I’ll crack your crown. |
1782. G. PARKER, Humorous Sketches, 155. Here no despotic power shews oppression’s haughty NOB.
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 23.
| With daddles high uprais’d, and NOB held back, | |
| In awful prescience of th’ impending thwack. |
1823. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Dictionary of the 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. M. G. DOWLING, Othello Travestie, i. 3. A thought has cross’d 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 alltogether, said Sam impatiently, and behave reasonable.
1840. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (The 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.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, i. 341. These he would engage at a bob a NOB.
1856. Punch, xxx. 241. Mary Ann’s Notions. Vulgar, dear. You might as well have written one for his NOB—you meant it.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, 40. Why shouldn’t her stage trotter-out take his perks too at so much a NOB.
2. (common).—A person of rank or position. [From Nobility: cf. MOB, Fr. mobile vulgus.] Hence TO COME THE NOB = to put on airs.—GROSE (1823). See DANDY.
1823. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Dictionary of the Turf, etc., s.v. NOB. A … NOB … differs from swell, inasmuch as the latter makes a show of his finery; whereas the NOB, relying upon intrinsic worth, or bona-fide property, or intellectual ability, is clad in plainness.
1825. C. M. WESTMACOTT, The English Spy, 255. Be unto him, as ye have been to all gownsmen from the beginning, ever ready to promote his wishes, whether for spree or sport, in term or out of term—against the Inquisition and their bull-dogs—the town raff and the bargees—well blunted or stiver cramped—against dun or don—NOB or big wig—so may you never want a bumper of bishop.
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, (ed. 1857), 12. ‘Wait a minute,’ said the stranger, ‘fun presently—NOBS not come yet—queer place. Dock-yard people of upper rank don’t know Dock-yard people of lower rank—small gentry don’t know tradespeople—Commissioner don’t know any body.’
1840–45. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (The Cynotaph), (1862), 70.
| No! no!—The Abbey may do very well | |
| For a feudal ‘NOB,’ or poetical ‘Swell.’ |
1841. THACKERAY, The Great Hoggarty Diamond, iv. He was at the West End on Thursday, asked to dine, ma’am, with the tip-top NOBS.
1843. DICKENS, Martin Chuzzlewit, vii. The high principle that Nature’s NOBS felt with Nature’s NOBS.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, II., 56. I may observe that the NOBS is a common designation for the rich among these sporting people.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, II., 58. Sherrick loq. Capital house, Mr. Newcome, wasn’t it? I counted no less than fourteen NOBS.
1863. C. READE, Hard Cash, I., 228. Once more [1846 Railway Mania] … a motley crew of peers and printers …—in one word, of NOBS and snobs—fought and scrambled pellmell for the popular paper; and all to get rich in a day.
1870. Figaro, 18 July. Is it more cruel for a snob to shoot a sea-bird in the breeding season than it is for a NOB to shoot pigeons in the breeding season, thereby starving all their young?
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xli. He was introduced to all the NOBS.
1892. T. A. GUTHRIE (‘F. Anstey’), Voces Populi, ‘In the Mall on Drawing-Room Day,’ p. 84. All I was goin’ to see was a set o’ blanky NOBS shut up in their blankdash kerridges.
3. (Oxford University).—See quot.
1825. C. M. WESTMACOTT, The English Spy, i. 136. We must find you some more tractable personage; some good-humoured NOB. [NOTE. A fellow of a college.]
4. (workmen’s).—A KNOBSTICK (q.v.).
5. (old).—The game of prick- (or cheat-) the-garter.
1754. POULTER, The Discoveries of John Poulter, 10. We got about three pounds from a butterman at the Belt or NOBB.
6. (old).—A sovereign; 20s.
Verb. (pugilists’).—1. To strike; to get home a blow (specifically on the head): cf. NOBBER.
1821. W. T. MONCRIEFF, Tom and Jerry, ii., 5. Tom. I’ve NOBB’D him on the canister.
2. (showmen’s).—To collect money; to take round the hat. Fr. faire la manche.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, III., 145. When we go about the streets with tumblers … we also NOB or gather the money.
1890. Spare Moments, 23 Aug. A good nobber or collector—always a very gentlemanly fellow—is worth every penny of his share for NOBBING alone.
1893. P. H. EMERSON, Signor Lippo, vi. At’ Chichester we opened up opposite the George Hotel, and I NOBBED half a sovereign from a young visitor, besides a lot of small money.
NOB IN THE FUR TRADE, subs. phr. (old).—A judge.
c. 1838. G. W. REYNOLDS, Pickwick Abroad, ‘The Housebreaker’s Song.’ Let NOBS IN THE FUR TRADE hold their jaw.
TO NOB IT, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.
1819. J. H. VAUX, Memoirs, s.v. NOB IT. To act with such prudence and knowledge of the world, as to prosper and become independent without any labour or bodily exertion; this is termed NOBBING IT, or FIGHTING NOB WORK. To effect any purpose, or obtain any thing, by means of good judgment and sagacity, is called NOBBING IT for such a thing.
1823. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [EGAN], s.v.
ONE FOR HIS NOB, subs. phr. (pugilists’).—1. A blow on the head.
2. (gamesters’).—A point in cribbage for holding the knave of trumps. Cf. TWO FOR HIS HEELS.
1888. Notes and Queries, 7th S. v., 28 April, 340. The old name of cribbage was ‘noddy.’ ‘Noddy,’ being the name for the knave, has been contracted into NOB. As NOB = head, the antagonism of ‘heels’ is obvious.
TO PITCH THE NOB. See PRICK-THE-GARTER.
