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Nails driven into Cottage Walls

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This was a Roman practice, under the notion that it kept off the plague. L. Manlius was named dictator (A.U.C. 390) “to drive the nail.”

Our cottagers still nail horseshoes to thresholds to ward off evil spirits. Mr. Coutts, the banker, had two rusty horseshoes fastened on the highest step outside Holly Lodge.

 

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

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Naglfar
Nahushtan
Naiads
Nail
Nail (For want of a)
Nail-money
Nail fixed in the Temple (of Jupiter)
Nail in One’s Coffin
Nail One’s Colours to the Mast (To)
Nailed
Nails driven into Cottage Walls
Nails of the Cross
Nain Rouge
Naivete (pron. nah-eve-ty)
Naked Lady
Naked Truth
Nakeer
Nala
Nama
Namby Pamby Philips
Name