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N
nnnnnnnnnn.
adv.  no.

<“Can you cast fireballs or whirling spells, such as might be hurled against an enemy?”  Simon looked sideways at Treatle.  “Nnnnnnnnnn,” he ventured.  —Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites.>

n.  a “frightening sound” of “vacuity, emptiness,” and “negation,” made by a bewitched woman madly cutting off her hair, as in the novel Wizard and Glass by Stephen King; see nnnnnnnnn.


n.  the “nasty noise” of a “model plane flying about” (Sue Lloyd, Jolly Phonics Workbook 1.>


n.  the humming of mosquitoes.

<[H]e plodded on like an ox up the rutted mountain roads, splashing through the puddles when he had to, slapping at skeeters that hummed around his ears: nnnnnnnnnn.  —William T. Vollmann, You Bright and Risen Angels.>

nnnnnnnnnn-nnnnn-nnnnnnnnn-nnnnn-nn.
n.  the sound of a turntable needle playing the first two seconds of a demo song by The Doors.

<[Lou Adler played the last song of our demo record for two seconds.]  It was like nnnnnnnnnn-nnnnn-nnnnnnnnn-nnnnn-nn.  And at the end of it he said, “Sorry, nothing here I can use.”  —Ray Manzarek, of the band The Doors, quoted in Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture by Jac Holzman.

nnnnnnnnnnn.
n.  the “swelling and receding” sound of a bagpipe, as described in the novel Fallen by Emma Jensen.



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Copyright (c) 2000 Craig Conley