nickel
/ˈnɪk.əl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.82 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Interstate 5, a highway that runs along the West Coast of the United States.
American usage; Countable; Slang; Uncountable
noun
A defensive formation with five defensive backs, one of whom is a nickelback, instead of the more-common four.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "That is just objectively terrifying regardless of contexts! He looks like if a nickel did cocaine!"
- "Colonel Hazeltine still had trouble persuading air commanders to drop the nickels. Pilots profanely protested against risking their necks on such foolishness. But in the end 15,000,000 leaflets a week were being dropped on Sicily and Italy."
- "Many types of nickels were used in psychological warfare. Classified according to general purpose, there were strategic and tactical leaflets."
- "Nickels, the code-name for propaganda leaflets, were ordinary 8-1/2×11" sheets of paper either printed on both sides or folded in half and printed on all four sides. […] On most of our flights, after leaving the DZ or landing strip we distributed 150 to 450 pounds of nickels over designated areas, and a few of our missions were nickel runs only."
- "Let me give you the nickel tour of the office."
- "The 422d Bombardment Squadron extended the scope of its operations considerably in April and "attacked" Norwegian targets with the leaflet bomb. The number of cities nickeled per mission also increased until it was common for fifteen to twenty-five to be scheduled as targets for a five-plane mission."
Etymology
Etymology tree Ancient Greek νῑ́κη (nī́kē) Proto-Hellenic *lāwós Ancient Greek λᾱός (lāós) Ancient Greek Νῑκόλᾱος (Nīkólāos)bor. Latin Nīcolāusbor. German Nikolaus German Nickelbor. English nickel Borrowed from German Nickel, first used in a text by the Swedish mineralogist Axel F. Cronstedt as an abbreviation of Kupfernickel (“a mineral containing copper and nickel”), from Kupfer (“copper”) + Nickel (“insignificant person, goblin”), originally nickname of Nikolaus (“Nicholas”), due to the deceptive silver colour of the relatively valueless ore. Compare cobalt as related to kobolds.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -
Usage
- Uncountable
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Countable
- Slang
- British usage
- Dated
- Transitive verb
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
antimonial nickel
arsenical nickel
bismuth-nickel
copper-nickel
cupro-nickel
double-nickel
drop a nickel
hobo nickel