never so: Often misused for ever so from which it should be carefully discriminated. Never so means “to an extent or degree beyond the actual or conceivable; no matter how.” In common use ever so, meaning no more than “very” or “exceedingly,” is often confounded with and used for never so.
never mean: A common slip of the tongue in such phrases as “I never mean to” which is frequently used when “I mean never to” is intended. Compare [DON’T].
nibs: A vulgar title given usually satirically, to a person in authority; as “His nibs sailed to-day”: a term to avoid.
nice: This word has undergone a peculiar transformation in sense. Derived from the Latin nescius, ignorant, and originally meaning “ignorant, silly weak,” it has now come to signify “characterized by discrimination and judgment, acute, discerning; as, a nice criticism.” The word has, however, also been used colloquially in the sense of “pleasing, jolly, or socially agreeable; as, a nice girl,” and the use has been condemned but is too well established to be abandoned.
nicely as a colloquialism for “very well”—as “He is doing nicely”—should be avoided.
nifty: A vulgarism for “stylish.”
nightly, nocturnal: These words do not have the same signification. The one means night by night, the other happening at night. A man has nightly sleep in which he suffers from nocturnal dreams.
no: According to critics no never properly qualifies a verb, that is, it should never be substituted for “not.” But the practise has literary sanction.
no: Often used for “any” by the illiterate. Do not say “We didn’t see no flats”; say, rather, “We did not see any flats.”
nobby: A vulgar synonym for “having an elegant or flashy appearance; showy; stylish”: haberdasher’s cant. Compare [NIFTY].