▪ I. nub, n.1
(nʌb)
Also 7, 9 nubb.
[app. a variant of knub n.]
† 1. = knub n. 3. Obs. rare.
| 1594 Cecil Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) IV. 574 Silk nubbs, 700 li. 1640 in Entick London (1766) II. 178 Silk nubs, or husks of silk. 1759 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 182 The duties now payable upon raw short silk or capiton, and silk nubs, or husks of silk, shall..cease. |
2. A knob or protuberance; a lump.
Common in dialect use in various applications. ‘Nub, the neck’ in the Dict. Cant. Crew (a 1700) may belong here, but cf. nub n.2
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Garden fences, That when the Tree is quite fixed, the Nub or Bottom of the Stem, above the Division of the Roots, may be rather above the Surface then even with it. 1760 Boston Gaz. 5 May 4/3 Strayed away,..a black Mare.., has..two small Nubs on the near Flank. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3) 297 Nub, a knob. 1864 Webster, Nub, a jag, or snag; also a knob, a protuberance. 1866 Fortn. Rev. Jan. 617 People..have very feeble notions of the difficulty that every nub of coal represents. 1893 G. D. Leslie Lett. Marco xxviii. 191 The ground is alive with little nubs and noses poking through. |
3. The point or gist of a story or matter.
| 1834 S. Smith Sel. Lett. J. Downing 205 That's pretty much the nub of the business. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3) 297 The nub of a story is the point or gist of it. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Yankee at Crt. of K. Arthur xvii. 176 When the nub was sprung, the assemblage let go with a horse-laugh. 1899 Scribner's Mag. XXV. 105/2 It's the nub of the whole matter. 1933 Wodehouse Heavy Weather viii. 166 ‘The problem..is, How the hell is one to get it away from the blighter?’ ‘Quite.’ ‘That is, as you might say, the nub?’ 1963 Guardian 11 Mar. 13/6 Speaking on the election of vice-presidents, he came to the nub of the unrest among active athletes. 1974 Times 22 Oct. 14/6 The nub of the judges' difficulty lay in Lord Widgery's reference to the claim..that the judge had no authority in law to give a direction binding on the press. |
▪ II. † nub, n.2 Obs. Cant.
[Cf. nub v.2]
The gallows.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Glim, As the Cull was Glimm'd, he gangs to the Nubb, [i.e.] if the Fellow has been Burnt in the Hand, he'll be Hang'd now. |
▪ III. nub, v.1
var. of knub v. 2. (Cf. nubble v.)
| c 1610 Grobiana's Nuptialls (MS. Bodl. 30) lf. 24 b, I tooke him a polt of the pate... I nubb'd his noddle. |
▪ IV. † nub, v.2 Obs. Cant.
[Cf. nub n.2]
To hang (one) by the neck; to execute by hanging.
| 1673 R. Head Cant. Acad. 16 The other was (nub'd) hang'd, and the last (marrinated) transported. Ibid. 191 They are rub'd, Up to the Nubbing-Cheat, And there they're nubb'd. a 1754 Fielding Jonathan Wild iv. ii, We shall be both nubbed together. I'faith, my dear, it almost makes me amends for being nubbed myself, to have the pleasure of seeing thee nubbed too. |
Hence † ˈnubbing vbl. n., hanging.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew. |