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

not worth a bone, the dog must be bad indeed that is
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careers end, Adjudicator: not with a bang, but
with a whimper” ( J. Mortimore and A. Lane,
Lucifer Rising, 1993).
not worth a bone, the dog must be bad indeed that
is See laborer is worthy of his hire, the.
now is the winter of our discontent Now things
are at their worst. This is the first line of William
Shakespeare’s play Richard III (c. 1592),
spoken by the malevolent future king as he
contemplates the long-awaited chance to claim
the throne of England for himself: “Now is the
winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer
by this sun of York; / And all the clouds that
lowered upon our house / In the deep bosom of
the ocean buried.” With the closure of the last theater
staging challenging drama in town, it would seem
that for serious actors this really is the winter of our
discontent.
number of the beast <strong>The</strong> dev il’s number; 666.
<strong>The</strong> mystical reputation of the number depends
on its appearance in Revelation 13:18: “Let him
that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number
is Six hundred threescore and six.” Various
explanations have been put forward for the origins
of the number, most of them based on the
numerical values given to the letters of certain
names, such as that of the wicked Roman emperor
Nero, among others. Over the centuries the number
has been associated with many other fi gures
accused by their enemies of being the Antichrist,
including Martin Luther, Napoleon Bonaparte,
and Kaiser Wilhelm II. He noticed that his new telephone
number ended with the number of the beast, but
he quickly shrugged off the momentary unease that
welled up in his mind.
Nunc Dimittis (nunk dimitis) A canticle granting
permission to leave, especially to depart this
life. <strong>The</strong> words appear in the opening line of the
prayer of Simeon, which is sung in evensong in the
Anglican Church: “Nunc dimittis servum tuum
Domine” (“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace”), taken from Luke 2:29–35. By
extension, if people are said to receive their Nunc
Dimittis they are understood to have permission
to depart; if they sing their Nunc Dimittis they
are understood to be happy to be going. “I shall
fi nish my artist’s life with your face; but I shall
want a bit of those shoulders, too . . . If they
aren’t divine I will eat my hat. Yes, I will do your
head and then—nunc dimittis” (Joseph Conrad,
<strong>The</strong> Arrow of Gold, 1919).
Nuremberg defense (nyoorbmberg) A defendant’s
plea that in committing a crime he or she
was only “following orders.” Such defenses were
presented at several of the notorious trials of leading
German Nazis at Nuremberg following the
close of World War II. <strong>The</strong>se excuses were largely
ignored by the courts, reinforcing the principle
that simply obeying someone else’s orders does
not render a person blameless for any crime he or
she commits. <strong>The</strong> youth’s resort to the Nuremberg
defense, that he was only doing what he had been told to
do, cut little ice with the judges.
Nureyev (nyoorayef ) A brilliantly talented male
ballet dancer. <strong>The</strong> Rus sian ballet dancer and
choreographer Rudolph Nureyev (1939–93) was
hugely admired for his per for mances in the great
ballet roles, both with Rus sian companies and
after defecting to the West in 1961, earning him
a reputation as the greatest male dancer since
nijinsky. He is so young it is far too soon to say
whether he is destined to be the next Nureyev.