'Get a nack' of something - please help

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NovalisNova

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Hello,

I'm reading a book written by Richardson in 1700s and I ran into an expression that I never read before nor I could find it out in any dictionary. The whole sentence is:

"But, aunt, but, madam (put in my sister) there is no hurt, I presume, in letting my sister know the condition she goes to Miss Howe upon; since, if he gets a nack of visiting her there"

At this point of the story there are Clary, the main character, her brother and her mother which are discussing with each other. Her brother wants to decide upon her the conditions reported above. "if he gets... of visiting her" is referred to a man who is annoying the young Miss and which could decide at any moment, even if she is far away from her house, to visit her.

Could you please tell me the meaning of that expression? "to get a nack"

Thank you very much.
 

bhaisahab

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Hello,

I'm reading a book written by Richardson in 1700s and I ran into an expression that I never read before nor I could find it out in any dictionary. The whole sentence is:

"But, aunt, but, madam (put in my sister) there is no hurt, I presume, in letting my sister know the condition she goes to Miss Howe upon; since, if he gets a nack of visiting her there"

At this point of the story there are Clary, the main character, her brother and her mother which are discussing with each other. Her brother wants to decide upon her the conditions reported above. "if he gets... of visiting her" is referred to a man who is annoying the young Miss and which could decide at any moment, even if she is far away from her house, to visit her.

Could you please tell me the meaning of that expression? "to get a nack"

Thank you very much.

In every reference I can find about Samuel Richardson's "Clarissa", the word is spelled "knack". This use of the word is uncommon to me. For a definition of "knack" look here: knack noun - definition in the British English Dictionary & Thesaurus - Cambridge Dictionaries Online
 

NovalisNova

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Thank you very much bhaisahab. Probably it is a misprint and I could not go back intuitively to the word "knack".
 

PhiipL

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bhaisahab

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It is difficult to learn to ride a bike, but once you get the knack { hang } of it, it soon becomes natural.

That sense of "knack" does'nt really work in the original sentence, IMO.
 
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