Adjacent Words

Nickel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NICKEL, n. A metal of a white or reddish white color, of great hardness, very difficult to be purified, always magnetic, and when perfectly pure, malleable. It is generally obtained from its sulphuret.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion; used in alloys; occurs in pentlandite and smaltite and garnierite and millerite [syn: nickel, Ni, atomic number 28]
2: a United States coin worth one twentieth of a dollar
3: five dollars worth of a drug; "a nickel bag of drugs"; "a nickel deck of heroin" [syn: nickel, nickel note] v
1: plate with nickel; "nickel the plate"

Merriam Webster's

also nickle noun Etymology: probably from Swedish nickel, from German Kupfernickel niccolite (mineral containing nickel arsenide) probably from Kupfer copper + Nickel goblin; from the deceptive copper color of niccolite Date: 1755 1. a silver-white hard malleable ductile metallic element capable of a high polish and resistant to corrosion that is used chiefly in alloys and as a catalyst — see element table 2. a. (1) the United States 5-cent piece regularly containing 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper (2) the Canadian 5-cent piece b. five cents 3. slang a packet containing five dollars worth of an illicit drug (as marijuana) — called also nickel bag 4. a pass defense in football that employs five defensive backs

Dictionary of the Elements

nickel
Symbol: Ni
Atomic number: 28
Atomic weight: 58.71
Malleable ductile silvery metallic transition element. Discovered by A.F. Cronstedt in 1751.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 Chem. a malleable ductile silver-white metallic transition element, occurring naturally in various minerals and used in special steels, in magnetic alloys, and as a catalyst. Usage: Symb.: Ni. 2 colloq. a US five-cent coin. --v.tr. (nickelled, nickelling; US nickeled, nickeling) coat with nickel. Phrases and idioms: nickel brass an alloy of copper, zinc, and a small amount of nickel. nickel-plated coated with nickel by plating. nickel silver = German silver. nickel steel a type of stainless steel with chromium and nickel. Derivatives: nickelic adj. nickelous adj. Etymology: abbr. of G Kupfernickel copper-coloured ore, from which nickel was first obtained, f. Kupfer copper + Nickel demon, with ref. to the ore's failure to yield copper

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nickel Nick"el, n. [G., fr. Sw. nickel, abbrev. from Sw. kopparnickel copper-nickel, a name given in derision, as it was thought to be a base ore of copper. The origin of the second part of the word is uncertain. Cf. Kupfer-nickel, Copper-nickel.] 1. (Chem.) A bright silver-white metallic element. It is of the iron group, and is hard, malleable, and ductile. It occurs combined with sulphur in millerite, with arsenic in the mineral niccolite, and with arsenic and sulphur in nickel glance. Symbol Ni. Atomic weight 58.6. Note: On account of its permanence in air and inertness to oxidation, it is used in the smaller coins, for plating iron, brass, etc., for chemical apparatus, and in certain alloys, as german silver. It is magnetic, and is very frequently accompanied by cobalt, both being found in meteoric iron. 2. A small coin made of or containing nickel; esp., a five-cent piece. [Colloq. U.S.] Nickel silver, an alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc; -- usually called german silver; called also argentan.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(nickels) 1. Nickel is a silver-coloured metal that is used in making steel. 2. In the United States and Canada, a nickel is a coin worth five cents. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

C, C-note, G, G-note, aureate, bar, brass, brassy, brazen, bronze, bronzy, buck, bullion, cartwheel, cent, century, coin gold, coin silver, copper, coppery, cupreous, cuprous, dime, dollar, dollar bill, ferrous, ferruginous, fifty cents, fin, fish, five cents, five hundred dollars, five-dollar bill, five-hundred-dollar bill, five-spot, fiver, four bits, frogskin, gilt, gold, gold nugget, gold-filled, gold-plated, golden, grand, half G, half a C, half dollar, half grand, hundred-dollar bill, ingot, iron, iron man, ironlike, lead, leaden, mercurial, mercurous, mill, nickelic, nickeline, nugget, penny, pewter, pewtery, precious metals, quarter, quicksilver, red cent, sawbuck, silver, silver dollar, silver-plated, silvery, skin, smacker, steel, steely, ten cents, ten-spot, tenner, thousand dollars, thousand-dollar bill, tin, tinny, twenty-dollar bill, twenty-five cents, two bits, two-dollar bill, two-spot, yard, yellow stuff