nake, to bare, unsheathe a sword; ‘Nake your swords’, Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, v. 1 (Lussurioso). ME. naken, to make naked (Chaucer, Boethius, bk. iv, met. 7).
naked, unarmed. Othello, v. 2. 258. Phr. naked bed, in reference to the once common custom of sleeping undressed, no night-linen being worn; ‘In her naked bed’, Venus and Ad. 397. See Nares; and EDD. (s.v. Naked, 1 (1)).
nale, at, for atten ale, at the ale-house. Hickscorner, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 166. Cp. Glouc. phrase, ‘He’s gone to nale’ (EDD.). ME. atte nale, at the ale-house (P. Plowman, C. viii. 19).
nall, an ‘awl’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 4; ‘A naule, idem quod aule’, Levins, Manip.; ‘Nall for a souter, alesne’, Palsgrave. ‘Nawl’ is in common prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
namecouth, known by name, famous. Spelt naamkouth, Grimalde, Concerning Virgil, 14; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 102.
namely, especially. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 14; vii. 7. 48.
nape, to strike upon the nape or back of the head just above the neck. ‘Naped in the head’, Latimer, 3 Sermon (ed. Arber, 76); ‘I nawpe one in the necke’, Palsgrave.
Napier’s bones, ivory rods marked with numbers, for facilitating calculation; invented by Lord Napier of Merchiston (d. 1617). Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 1095; iii. 2. 409.
nappy, having a head, foaming; heady, strong. Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. iii. 16; Gay, Shepherd’s Week, ii. 56. In common prov. use (EDD.).
nares, nostrils. Butler, Hud. i. 1. 742; ‘Nares (of a hawk)’, Book of St. Albans, fol. a 5; L. nares, pl. nostrils.