(The). To go to the land of Nod is to go to bed. There
are many similar puns and more in French than in English. Of course,
the reference is to Gen. iv. 16, “Cain went ... and dwelt in the land
of Nod;” but where the land of Nod is or was nobody knows. In fact,
“Nod” means a vagrant or vagabond, and when Cain was driven out he
lived “a vagrant life,” with no fixed abode, till he built his “city.” (See Needham.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
