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Nov 27, 2009
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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—N

Nimrod

“A mighty hunter before the Lord” (Gen. x. 9), which the Targum says means a “sinful hunting of the sons of men.” Pope says of him, he was “a mighty hunter, and his prey was man;” so also Milton interprets the phrase. (Paradise Lost, xii. 24, etc.)

The legend is that the tomb of Nimrod still exists in Damascus, and that no dew ever “falls” upon it, even though all its surroundings are saturated with it.

Nimrod.
Any tyrant or devastating warrior.

Nimrod, in the Quarterly Review, is the nom-de-plume of Charles James Apperley, of Denbighshire, who was passionately fond of hunting. Mr. Pittman, the proprietor, kept for him a stud of hunters. His best productions are The Chase, the Turf, and the Road. (1777-1843.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Nincompoop
Nimini Pimini
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