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

Nostradamus (nostrbdahmbs) A person who
prophecies future events. Michel de Nostredame
(1503–66), otherwise known as Nostradamus,
was a French astrologer and physician whose Centuries
(1555) contained a series of enigmatic
prophecies about events that he said would happen
in future centuries. Though derided by many, he is
said to have predicted, among other things, air
warfare, the rise of hitler in Nazi Germany, and
the atom bomb. If he carries on predicting the results
of future games so accurately people will start calling
him Nostradamus.
not by bread alone See man cannot live by
bread alone.
nothing new under the sun What appears to be
new often turns out to be nothing more than a
revival or reintroduction of an old idea. This familiar
comment on the changeless nature of things is
biblical in origin, appearing in Ecclesiastes 1:9:
“<strong>The</strong> thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;
and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.” “ ‘<strong>The</strong>y’re
after something quite new—something that’s never
been heard of before.’ ‘My dear fellow! <strong>The</strong>re is
nothing new under the sun’ ” (George Orwell,
Coming Up for Air, 1939).
not peace but a sword A threat of violence or
other stern action, as opposed to a pacifi c approach.
<strong>The</strong> phrase appears in Matthew and Luke, where it
is attributed to Christ: “Think not that I am come
to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace,
but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter in law against her mother
in law” (Matthew 10:34–35). Critics usually defend
the militaristic tone of the passage by interpreting
not with a bang but a whimper
it as a meta phorical comment directed toward
Christ’s followers, warning them that their commitment
to God might bring them on occasion into
confl ict with their own families. “He had brought
not peace to the city, but a sword” (W. Somerset
Maugham, Catalina, 1948).
Nottingham, Sheriff of See sheriff of nottingham.
not to night, Josephine (jozbfeen) Mocking
rejection of a sexual or other advance. <strong>The</strong> suggestion
is that this is what the French emperor napoleon
said to his wife Josephine when she sought
to distract him from affairs of state, although there
is absolutely no historical evidence that he ever
said any such thing. It is more likely to have been
an invention of music- hall comedians later in the
19th century. Wearing that bikini, she is unlikely ever
to hear the words “not to night, Josephine.”
not waving but drowning In a state of desperation
or needing help, often despite appearances to
the contrary. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to a 1953 poem of the
same title, which was possibly the most famous
creation of British poet Stevie Smith (1902–71):
“Nobody heard him, the dead man, / But still he
lay moaning: / He was much further out than you
thought / And not waving but drowning.” <strong>The</strong>y
tried to look cheerful as they set off for the court, but you
had the feeling they were not waving but drowning.
not with a bang but a whimper Describing
some thing that does not end dramatically but
instead just fi zzles out anticlimactically. This is a
quotation from the 1925 poem “<strong>The</strong> Hollow
Men” by the Anglo- American poet T. S. Eliot
(1888–1965): “This is the way the world ends /
Not with a bang but a whimper.” “This is how
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