Naughty Figs (Jeremiah xxiv. 2).

Worthless, vile (Anglo-Saxon náht, i.e. n negative, aht aught). We still say a “naughty boy,” a “naughty girl,” and a “naughty child.”

“One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe… The other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten.”

previous entry · index · next entry

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

National Exhibition
National Workshops
Native
Nativity (The)
Natty
Natty Bumppo
Natural (A)
Nature
Naught (not “nought”)
Naught
Naughty Figs (Jeremiah xxiv. 2)
Navigation
Navvy
Nay-word
Nayres
Nazaræans or Nazarenes
Nazarene
Nazareth
Nazarite
Ne plus Ultra (Latin)
Ne Sutor, etc