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| Word | Meaning | Eponym |
| namby-pamby | Weak and sentimental, insipid, childishly simple. | A disparaging imitation of a childish pronunciation of the name of Ambrose Philips (1675-1749), author of sentimental poems for and about children. |
| narcissism | Infatuation with oneself. | Narcissus, a beautiful young man of Greek mythology who looked into a reflective pool and fell in love with the image of himself. |
| nebuchadnezzar | A huge wine bottle holding 20 normal bottles of wine; used mostly for display. | Nebuchadnezzar (circa 630-562 BCE), king of Chaldea who captured and destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Israelites to Babylonia. |
| negus | A mixture of wine, hot water, lemon juice, sugar, and nutmeg. | Colonel Francis Negus, a colonel in the British army who died in 1732 after drinking negus. |
| nemesis | 1. The source of damage, harm, or destruction. 2. Strong, inevitable retribution. 3. An opponent or other threat that cannot be escaped or defeated. | Nemesis, the Greek goddess of retribution. |
| nestor | A wise old man. | Nestor, a legendary Greek king of Pylos, reputedly very wise. |
| newton | The unit of force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram one meter per second per second. | Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), British physicist and mathematician who first formulated the theory of gravity and invented differential calculus. |
| nicotine | The poisonous addictive chemical in tobacco smoke. | Jean Nicot (1530-1600), the French ambassador to Portugal, who promoted smoking by sending tobacco seeds and leaves to France in the mid 16th century. |
| nosey parker | A busybody. | Matthew Parker (1504-1575), Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559-1575, who developed a reputation for sticking his nose in other people's business. |
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