Chapter N to Nadir of N by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Naboth's Vineyard The possession of another coveted by one able to possess himself of it. (1 Kings xxi. 1-10.)

“The little Manor House property had always been a Naboth's vineyard to his father.”- Good Words, 1887.

Nadab in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for Lord Howard, of Esrick or Escriek, a profligate who laid claim to great piety. Nadab offered incense with strange fire, and was slain by the Lord (Lev. x. 2); and Lord Howard, while imprisoned in the Tower, is said to have mixed the consecrated wafer with a compound of roasted apples and sugar, called lamb's-wool.

“And canting Nadab let oblivion damn,
Who made new porridge of the paschal lamb."
Absalom and Achitophel, part i. 538-9.

Nadir An Arabic word, signifying that point in the heavens which is directly opposite to the zenith.
   From zenith down to nadir. From the highest point of elevation to the lowest depth.
   Nadir. A representation of the planetary system.

“We then lost (1091) a most beautiful table, fabricated of different metals ... Saturn was of copper, Jupiter of gold, Mars of iron, the Sun of latten, Mercury of amber, Venus of tin, and the Moon of silver ... It was the most celebrated nadir in all England.”- Ingulphus.