Nilly-willy, i.e., NILL YE, WILL YE, whether you will or no; a familiar version of the Latin, NOLENS VOLENS. Generally written now, WILLY-NILLY.
Nimming, stealing. Old English, NIM, to take. Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word NIM (to snatch or pick up) was derived from nam, nam, the tiny words or cries of an infant, when eating anything which pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word:—
“Buckra man NAM crab,
Cram NAM buckra man.”
Or, in the buckra man’s language—
“White man eat [or steal] the crab,
And then crab eat the white man.”
Shakspeare evidently had the word NIM in his head when he portrayed Nym.
Nincompoop, a fool, a hen-pecked husband, a “Jerry Sneak.”—Corruption of non compos mentis.
Nine corns, a pipeful of tobacco.
Ninepence, “nice as NINEPENCE,” all right, right to a nicety. A correspondent says:—“This most undoubtedly should be NINE-PINS. For at the game of that name, in fairness to both parties, the nine pins must always be set up with great accuracy. There is no nicety in NINEPENCE!” Evidently this correspondent does not know how nice it is to have ninepence, after being without money. At all events the phrase is “nice as NINEPENCE.”