Chapter Nine to Nip-cheese of N by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Ninon de I'Enclos noted for her beauty, wit, and gaiety. She had two natural sons, one of whom fell in love with her, and blew out his brains when he discovered the relationship. (1615-1706.)

Ninus Son of Belus, husband of Semiramis, and the reputed builder of Nineveh.

Niobe (3 syl.). The personification of female sorrow. According to Grecian fable, Niobe was the mother of twelve children, and taunted Latona because she had only two- namely, Apollo and Diana. Latona commanded her children to avenge the insult, and they caused all the sons and daughters of Niobe to die. Niobe was inconsolable, wept herself to death, and was changed into a stone, from which ran water, “Like Niobe, all tears” (Hamlet.)
   The group of Niobe and her children, in Florence, was discovered at Rome in 1583, and was the work either of Scopas or Praxiteles.
   The Niobe of nations. So Lord Byron styles Rome, the “lone mother of dead empires,” with “broken thrones and temples;” a “chaos of ruins;” a “desert where we steer stumbling o'er recollections.” (Childe Harold, canto iv. stanza 79.)

Niord The Scandinavian sea-god. He was not one of the Æsir Niörd's son was Frey (the fairy of the clouds), and his daughter was Freyja. His home was Noatun. Niörd was not a sea-god, like Neptune, but the Spirit of water and air. The Scandinavian Neptune was Ægir, whose wife was Skadi.

Nip (A). As a “nip of whisky,” a “nip of brandy,” “just a nip.” A nipperkin was a small measure. (Dutch, nippen, a sip.)

Nip in the Bud Destroy before it has developed. “Nip sin in the bud;” Latin, “Obsta principiis,” “Venienti occurite morbo.” “Resist beginnings.”

Nip-cheese or Nip-farthing. A miser, who nips or pinches closely his cheese and farthings. (Dutch, nippen.)