nit-pickern. a person who is hypercriti-
cal. Mary is such a nit-picker. Nit-
pickers drive me crazy.
nit-pickingn. too much minor criticism;
overly particular criticism; nagging. I
am tired of all your nit-picking. Enough
nit-picking! What are the major problems?
nitty-gritty[“nIdi “grIdi] n. the essence; the
essential points. (Usually in get down to
the nitty-gritty.) What’s the nitty-gritty
about the broken window? Once we are
down to the nitty-gritty, we can begin to
sort things out.
nitwitn. someone who behaves stupidly.
(Also a term of address.) You are such
a nitwit! Please stop acting like a nitwit
all the time.
nix[nIks] (All senses from German nichts.)
- interj. no. The man said nix, and he
means nix. Nix, I won’t do it. 2. exclam.
No!; Stop it!; I disagree! (Usually Nix!)
Nix! I won’t do it. “Nix,” said Paul. “I
can’t permit that.” 3. n. nothing. What
did I get for all my trouble? Nix! I got
nix for a tip. And after I was so helpful! - tv. to put a stop to something; to
say no to something; to ban something;
to turn something down. The boss
nixed my plan. I wanted to say a certain
word in my speech, but the management
nixed it.
no-account 1. mod. worthless; no-good.
Her uncle is a no-account gambler. She
is a no-account part-time dealer at the
casino. 2. n. a worthless person. (Also a
rude term of address.) Ask that no-ac-
count to come over here and explain him-
self. Look, you no-account! Take your
problems and go away!
no bargainn. not an especially good per-
son or thing. Fred is okay, but he’s no
bargain. This car gets me to work and
back, but it’s no bargain.
no big deal and no biggie; no big
whoopn. (something) not difficult or
troublesome. (See also NBT.) Don’t
worry. It’s no big deal. No problem. It’s
no biggie.
no biggieGo to no big deal.
no big whoopGo to no big deal.
anobodyn. an insignificant person. (Com-
pare this with somebody.) Don’t pay
any attention to him. He’s just a nobody.
That silly girl is a nobody and a pest.
no-brainern. an easy question that takes
no thinking to answer; a simple problem
that requires no intellect to solve; a
dilemma that requires no pondering to
resolve. Of course, the question is a no-
brainer. The answer has to be yes. His
proposal of marriage was a no-brainer. She
turned him down f lat on the spot.
no brand cigaretteGo to cigarette with
no name.
no-brown. a stupid person. (Patterned on
lowbrow.) Sam is a complete no-brow.
No culture, no sense of style, and no
money. Bart is a total drip. No-brow
and a phony.
no can dophr. It can’t be done.; I can’t do
it. Sorry. No can do. Lend you $200?
No can do.
nodded outmod. in heroin euphoria; un-
der the influence of heroin. (Drugs.)
Max nodded out after his fix. He is up-
stairs nodded out.
no diceinterj. no; not possible. When I
asked about a loan, he said, No dice. No.
It can’t be done, no dice.
no earthly reasonn. no conceivable rea-
son. There is no earthly reason for your
behavior. I can think of no earthly rea-
son why the repairs should cost so much.
no end of somethingn. an endless sup-
ply of something. Have some candy. I
have no end of chocolate drops. I’ve had
no end of trouble ever since I bought this
car.
No fair!exclam. That’s not fair! No fair!
I saw it first! That’s no fair! We paid full
price to see this movie.
no go[“no “go] mod. negative; inopportune.
(This is hyphenated before a nominal.)
We’re in a no-go situation. Is it go or
no go?
no-good 1. n. a worthless person. Te l l
that no-good to leave. The no-good isno-good