Tag: 1910 – 1919

ETYMOLOGY
from never + sweat

EXAMPLE
“… This would be received with peals of laughter, and followed by a general repetition of the same cry. Next, a hundred and fifty cat-calls of the shrillest possible description would almost split the ears. These would be succeeded by cries of ” Strike up, you catgut scrapers,” ” Go on with your barrow,” ” Flare up, my never-sweats,” and a variety of other street sayings. Indeed, the uproar which went on before the meeting began will be best understood if we compare it to the scene presented by a public menagerie at feeding time. …”

From: London Labour and the London Poor;
A cyclopaedia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work,
By Henry Mayhew, 1851

ETYMOLOGY
from the name of Nebuchadnezzar (died c562 BC) ruler of the Babylonian empire (604–562 BC), after French nabuchodonosor (large wine bottle used for champagne)

EXAMPLE (for n. 3.)
“… That didn’t prevent me strewing my whole room with little bits of paper, when I undressed that night. Fireworks ensue, then (children dismissed) supper and afterwards, the most magnificent Nebuchadnezzars, and finally a good form of blind-man’s buff, where everyone stands round the room in a circle and the blind man walks up and prods someone, telling him at the same time to make a noise … sch as the sound of rain falling on mud – and the speaker has to be recognised by the sound of his voice. …”

From: Letters of Aldous Huxley
By Aldous Huxley, 1969
Letter to Leonard Huxley, 11 November, 1913

PRONUNCIATION
neb-yuh-kuhd-NEZ-uh