Night + mare: A spirit that in northern mythology was reputed to torment or suffocate sleepers. A morbid oppression in the night, resembling the pressure of weight upon the breast.

—Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

A Dictionary of the English Language, 1755

I am not born to tread in the beaten track; the peculiar bent of my nature pushes me on.

—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)