on the nod

English

Adverb

on the nod (not comparable)

1. (UK, informal) With no discussion or controversy.
   • 2005, Robert Service, Stalin: A Biography, →ISBN:

     The New Economic Policy (or NEP) in its rudimentary form was approved almost on the nod and the Leninists won the debate on the trade unions without difficulty.

   • 2006 October 7, Nicholas Lezard, “In bed with Tracey Emin”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     It's because it's quite an extraordinary piece of writing, and had it come with a name more celebrated in literary than artistic circles I would have taken it on the nod, and appreciatively so.

   • 2012, Roger Davidson, Sexual State, →ISBN, pages 80–81:

     For similar reasons, the Conservative Chief Whip was determined not to allow the Bill to 'go through on the nod' and was prepared if necessary to object on the grounds that the Bill raised important issues.

   • 2014, Robin Waterfield, Taken at the Flood: The Roman Conquest of Greece, →ISBN:

     Finally, if they decided to award a triumph, the petition was presented to the people of Rome for ratification, which always went through on the nod.

Adjective

on the nod (comparative more on the nod, superlative most on the nod)

1. In a stuporous state following a high from heroin.
   • 2011, d'Artagnan Rene, The Ivory Tower, →ISBN:

     She was nearly 'on the nod' from all the heroin she had coursing through her veins and couldn't handle a struggle.

   • 2013, John Nichols, The Milagro Beanfield War, →ISBN, page 258:

     After that, Bobby Joe wandered, doing odd jobs, stealing for his daily fixes, moving with one old lady and then another, always more or less in a fog or on the nod and desperate for smack and bread, until he landed in the Evening Star commune out on Milagro's Strawberry Mesa with Lady Elephant, nee Christina Cupcoe, on his arm.

   • 2013, Darren Greer, Still Life with June, →ISBN:

     ...when an addict admitted that he had gone on the nod in his bed on Christmas Day with a needle still stuck in his arm and his baby daughter asleep on his chest.

References

• “on the nod”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “on the nod”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “on the nod” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• Jonathon Green (2024) “on the nod”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang