nab2 (nab)

[For knab, var. of knap2, as knob of knop. Cf. Icel. nabbi, a knob, knoll.] 1. The summit of a mountain or rock; any piece of rising ground: same as knob ( c ). thes, containing all the American species, long regarded as a distinct genus of plants, the rattlesnake-roots. Nabatæan, Nabatean (nab-a-tē'an), a. and n. [Also Nabathæan; tions. II. n. One of the Arab people dwelling in ancient times on the east and southeast of Palestine, often identified with the people mentioned in the Old Testament under the name of Nebai oth (Isa. lx. 7), and in the first book of Maccabees (v. 25) as Nabathites . Their ancestor Nebajoth is spoken of as the first-born of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 13). They are referred to in A yrian inscriptions of the seventh century B. c., but the period of their greatest historical imp or tance was the century immediately preceding and that immediately succeeding the Christian era. They seem to have been for a long time the chief traders between Egypt and the valley of the Euphrates. Important Nabatean inscriptions have been recovered, and the rock-inscriptions in the valleys around Mount Sinai have been attrib uted to them. Nabathite (nab'a-thit), n. [As Nabath ( wan ) + -ite2 .] Same as Nabataan . nab-cheatt, n. [ cheat3 .] A cap; a hat. Thus we throw up our nab - cheats , first for joy. Fletcher, Beggar's Bush, ii. 1.