NON-COMBATANTS. A term applied erroneously to the purser, master surgeon, &c., of a man-of-war, for all men on board may be called on, more or less, to fight.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. In familiar parlance, non-coms. are the sergeants, corporals, and others, appointed under special regulations, by the orders of the commanding officer.
NON-CONDENSING ENGINE. A high-pressure steam-engine.
NONIUS SCALE, or Vernier. That fixed to the oblong opening near the lower end of the index-bar of a sextant or quadrant; it divides degrees into minutes, and these again into parts of seconds.
NO! NO! The answer to the night-hail by which it is known that a midshipman or warrant officer is in the boat hailed.
NON-RECOIL. This was effected by securing the breeching while the gun was run out: often practised in small vessels.
NOOK. A small indentation of the land; a little cove in the inner parts of bays and harbours.
NOOK-SHOTTEN. A Shakspearian expression for a coast indented with bays; as in Henry V. Bourbon speaks contemptuously of "that nook-shotten isle of Albion."
NOON. Mid-day.
NOOSE. A slip or running knot.