noggin

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Translations 1.4 See also 1.5 References

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

Origin unknown. (Irish naigín, Scottish Gaelic noigean are from the English.) Compare nog.

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈnɒgɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɒɡɪn

[edit] Noun

noggin (plural noggins)

1. A small mug, cup or ladle.
   • 1889, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Parson of Jackman’s Gulch

     Here Nat Adams, the burly bar-keeper, dispensed bad whisky at the rate of two shillings a noggin, or a guinea a bottle…

2. (dated) A measure equivalent to a gill. Also possibly linked to the phrase “naggin of vodka” (a small bottle of vodka).
   • 1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

     I don’t know whether…you…ever…went out to a slight lunch of a bushel of oysters, a dozen or so of bottled ale, and a noggin or two of whiskey to close up with.

3. (slang) The head.
   • 2003, James D. Doss, Dead Soul [1]

     Or maybe he bumped his noggin when he fell down—after he got clipped on the legs.

   • 2003, John Farris, The Fury and the Power [2]

     She bumped her noggin on the bulkhead above the doorway, smiled in apology for her presumed clumsiness.

[edit] Translations

[edit] See also

• noggen

[edit] References

• OED 2nd edition 1989