subs. (Winchester College).—1. A word, usage, or phrase peculiar to Winchester College.
1891. Notions [Title].
2. (American).—A trifle; a nick-nack: specifically (in pl.) = wares in general.
1719. WARD, The London Spy, i. 2. s.v.
1825. NEAL, Brother Jonathan, II. 22. The tallow, corn, cotton, hams, hides, and so forths, which we had got in exchange for a load of Yankee NOTIONS.
1833. MARRYAT, Peter Simple, III. v. Her cargo consisted of what the Americans call NOTIONS, that is, in English, an assorted cargo.
1836. M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge, 300. A cargo of flour and NOTIONS, consigned to Macal, Walker, and Co.
1840. R. H. DANA, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, xxxv. A cargo of fresh provisions, mules, tin bake-pans, and other NOTIONS.
1866. W. D. HOWELLS, Venetian Life, ix. Fruit-stands, and stands for the sale of crockery, and—as I must say for want of a better word, if there is any—NOTIONS, were in a state of tasteful readiness.
1867. W. H. SMYTH, Sailor’s Word-Book, 501, s.v. NOTIONS. An American sea-term for a cargo in sorts; thus a NOTION vessel on the west coast of America is a perfect bazaar: but one, which sold a mixture—logwood, bad claret, and sugar—to the priests for sacrament wine had to run for it.
1888. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 21 Jan. Thursday, January 26, regular auction sale of dry goods, furnishing goods, NOTIONS, hats and caps, etc.
1889. G. KENNAN, A Ride through the Trans-Baikal, in The Century Magazine, xxxviii. May, 82. American goods of all kinds, brought from California, suddenly made their appearance in the village shops; and as I saw the American tin-ware, lanterns, and ‘Yankee NOTIONS’ … it seemed to me as if in the immediate future we ought from some high hill to catch sight of San Francisco and the Golden Gate.
1891. The Sportsman, 1 April. To examine the remedies which came from the land of the Stars and Stripes, the home of Colonel Buncombe and of innumerable NOTIONS.
