Nod

verb. (colloquial).—To be stupid or dull.

  THE LAND OF NOD, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Sleep. [Cf. ‘the LAND OF NOD on the East of the Jordan’ (q.v.), Gen. iv. 16.]

  1708–10.  SWIFT, Polite Conversation, iii. Col. I’m going to the LAND OF NOD. Neverout. Faith, I’m for Bedfordshire.

  1818.  SCOTT, Tales of My Landlord, III. 124. ‘And d’ye ken, lass,’ said Madge, ‘there’s queer things chanced since ye hae been in THE LAND OF NOD.’

  1823.  GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [EGAN], s.v.

  1828.  HOOD, Miss Kilmansegg and Her Precious Leg.

  1889.  Detroit Free Press, 16 Feb. So he waked it up, and all baby did was to open its little eyes, sniff, smile sleepily, and go right off again to the LAND OF NOD.

  1892.  HUME NISBET, The Bushranger’s Sweetheart, 275. We flung ourselves down on our blankets, and were soon in the LAND OF NOD.

  A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK TO A BLIND HORSE, phr. (colloquial).—Said of a covert hint—an allusion not put into plain words.

  1831.  BUCKSTONE, Beggar Boy, i. 1. Jean (laughing.) You understand him by that? Bart. To be sure I do! A NOD’S AS GOOD AS A WINK FOR A BLIND HORSE, you know, master.

  1837.  R. B. PEAKE, A Quarter to Nine, i. A NOD’S AS GOOD AS A WINK TO A BLIND HORSE.

  1889.  Evening Standard, 25 June. A WINK WAS AS GOOD AS A NOD, and trainers and jockeys … easily gathered whether a particular horse was only out for an airing, &c.

  1893.  Nineteenth Century, July, 6. A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK TO A BLIND HORSE; and there are certain understandings, in public as well as in private life, which it is better for all parties not to put into writing.

  ON THE NOD, phr. (common).—On credit.

  1882.  The Rag, 30 Sept. [FARMER, Musa Pedestris (1896), 163].

  1889.  Bird o’ Freedom, 7 Aug., 1. The next book you make, take a Gentile’s advice, It’s safer to bet ON THE NOD.

  1889.  Daily Telegraph, 23 Oct., 5, 5. The defendant deposed that he lost over £30 by taking the bank, and that then the players agreed that he might go ON THE NOD, which meant that he might owe what he lost.

  1891.  Standard, 25 Aug., 3, 6. When Witness asked where he got them from; he said, ON THE NOD, meaning that he did not intend to pay for them.

  1894.  GEORGE MOORE, Esther Waters, xxxi. He didn’t suppose the guv’nor would take him ON THE NOD, but he had a nice watch which ought to be good for three ten.

  1897.  Daily Telegraph, 15 March, 8, 4. The old idea of the law was that betting on credit—or, as it is vulgarly called, betting ON THE NOD—was not illegal.