The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

Nightingale, Florence
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Christ: “I must work the works of him that sent
me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no
man can work” (John 9:4). “Repent—resolve,
while yet there is time. Remember, we are bid to
work while it is day—warned that ‘the night
cometh when no man shall work’ ” (Charlotte
Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847). “ ‘Still there are works
which, with God’s permission, I would do before
the night cometh.’ Dr Arnold was thinking of his
great work on Church and State” (Lytton
Strachey, Eminent Victorians, 1918).
Nightingale, Florence See fl orence nightingale.
nightmare on Elm Street A nightmarish situation.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to a blood- soaked horror
movie of the same title released in 1984. <strong>The</strong> plot
revolves around the demonic Freddy Krueger,
who stalks and murders a succession of middleclass
American teenagers as they sleep, savaging
them with his long steel- tipped fi ngernails. <strong>The</strong>
success of the original movie spawned several
sequels. With people collapsing all around it was like
being caught up in a nightmare on Elm Street.
night of the long knives A period of sackings,
dismissals, and demotions of staff or other personnel.
<strong>The</strong> original Night of the Long Knives took
place throughout Germany on June 30, 1934, when
Adolf hitler had numerous opponents and rivals
for power murdered by his supporters in the ss,
thus allowing him to establish unchallenged personal
control of an emergent Nazi state. Casualties
(the number of which has been estimated at somewhere
between 60 and 400) included several
se nior fi gures who had thought Hitler their ally or
friend. Hitler himself made little secret of the
purge he had initiated, as evidenced by an address
he subsequently made to the Reichstag: “It was no
secret that this time the revolution would have to
bloody . . . When we spoke of it, we called it ‘<strong>The</strong>
Night of the Long Knives.’ ” It appears that Hitler
may have borrowed the phrase from an early Nazi
marching song. Later nights of the long knives,
such as that instituted by British prime minister
Harold Macmillan in 1962, have not necessarily
entailed the murder of those removed from offi ce.
It is only six months since the last night of the long
knives, and already those at the top are considering
another purge of middle management.
Nijinsky (nijinskee) A superbly talented male
classical ballet dancer. <strong>The</strong> Rus sian ballet dancer
Vaslav Nijinsky (1890–1950) won acclaim as a star
of the celebrated Ballet Russe company in the
early years of the 20th century, creating many of
the great parts in the modern ballet repertoire
and dancing to the music of Debussy, Stravinsky,
and others. He made his fi nal appearance as early
as 1917, having fallen victim to paranoid schizophre
nia, but is remembered as a paragon of the
classical dance tradition, famed for his prodigious
leaps. You might be okay at the jive, but let’s face it,
you’re no Nijinsky. See also nureyev.
Nike (nikee) <strong>The</strong> personifi cation of victory.
Nike was the goddess of victory in Greek mythology
and was usually depicted with wings and carrying
a palm or wreath. Her name is best known
today as a trade name for a brand of sportswear.
<strong>The</strong> spirit of Nike hovers over the stadium as the victors
come forward for the pre sen ta tion.
nil admirari (neel admirahree) Unimpressed;
indifferent. <strong>The</strong> expression, which in Latin literally
means “to admire nothing,” comes from the
Epistles of the Roman poet Horace (65–8 b.c.).