north adj.
1. clever, cunning.
 | Step to the Bath quoted in Social Life in the Reign of Q. Anne v ii 168: I ask’d what Countrey-man my Landlord was? answer was made, Full north; and Faith ’twas very Evident, for he had put the Yorkshire most damnably upon us [F&H]. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sl. Dict. | |
| Sporting Times 23 Jan. 1/4: ‘Too far north for me, this kid’. |
2. in senses of superior, ‘above’, in excess of, extreme.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | City Editor 112: However, it is doubtful if the Daily News, confronted with a similar situation today, would attempt such a feat [i.e. grabbing a sneak photo of an execution]. It would be carrying enterprise pretty far north. | |
| Last Kind Words 180: She was on the north side of forty and still quite captivating. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Old Scores [ebook] [T]heir timeline for completing the project was two months north of Exetar’s. | |
| ‘Crime 101’ in Broken 61: You buy this unit, it’s going to run the north side of a million. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
Holloway prison.
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. |
(Aus.) one shilling.
| Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 7 June 9/6: Slang of Money [...] A shilling is a ‘bob,’ ‘blow,’ ‘peg,’ ‘dener,’ ‘north-easter’. |
(US) a right-handed person.
| St Paul Globe (MN) 19 May 5/1: The batsman is wondering whether he is a south-paw or a north-paw. | |
| Wash. Times (DC) 30 Jan. 5/3: A novel contest took place on the Palace alleys last night, when the Northpaws and the Southpaws met. The teams are made up of some of the best bowlers in the city. | |
| L.A. Herald 2 May 4/4: The exceptional twirling of Northpaw Allen, who hurled a few Aurora Borealis bed springs at the city layout. | |
| Ogden Standard (UT) 1 Mar. 12/1: The Oaks will have one foxy left-hander to mix in with the northpaw flingers. | |
| Eve. World (NY) 28 July 1/1: In the sixth [round] Benny began to solve the puzzling attack of the so-called southpaw, who really is both southpaw and northpaw or in other words a two-handed fighter. | |
| in Red Sox Encyc. 269: What do you expect from a northpaw world. | |
| Startech 6 Jul. 🌐 You can buy both right-hand and left-hand mice and keep them connected to a single computer at the same time. Then a southpaw and a northpaw can share that computer without having to worry about having the right mouse. | |
| Our Sportive Origin 84: A southpaw author and northpaw golfer. |
In phrases
(Aus.) to lose one’s money.
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 32: Go Due North, to become insolvent. |
he’s too cunning for me.
| Roderick Random (1979) 91: Do you think I am to be imposed upon by that northern accent which you have assumed? But it shan’t avail you – you shall find me too far north for you. | |
| Gaslight and Daylight 39: Her husband – who, however far gone he may be in liquor, is a long way too far north to ’list in reality. | |
| , , | | Sl. Dict. 189: The inhabitants of Yorkshire and the Northern counties are supposed, like the canny Scots, to get the better of other people in dealing; hence the phrase, “He’s too far north for me,” i.e., too cunning for me to deal with. |
(US) a general term of abuse, used joc. as in you look like the north end ...
| oral testimony in HDAS II. | |
| Lily on the Dustbin 98: His boss who [...] has ‘a face like the north end of a south-bound bus’. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 75: face like the north end of a southbound bus Fairly unattractive. ANZ. | |
| St Louis News (MO) 16 Nov. 🌐 And let me be the first to re-emphasize that this victory was about as ugly as the north end of a southbound mule. |
(US gay) a question asking whether someone is circumcised or not.
| Queens’ Vernacular 142: north or south (adj phr) circumcised or uncircumcised. Often posed as a question, but rarely, if ever, given as an answer. |
(US) (slightly) in excess of.
| Two & Three 27 Feb. [synd. col.] John D. [i.e. Rockefeller], with all his oil cans, lives on the north side of a soda cracker a day. |