The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Nuisance \Nui"sance\, n. [OE. noisance, OF. noisance, nuisance,
   fr. L. nocentia guilt, fr. nocere to hurt, harm; akin to
   necare to kill. Cf Necromancy, Nocent, Noxious,
   Pernicious.]
   That which annoys or gives trouble and vexation; that which
   is offensive or noxious.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: Nuisances are public when they annoy citizens in
         general; private, when they affect individuals only.
         [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

nuisance
    n 1: (law) a broad legal concept including anything that
         disturbs the reasonable use of your property or endangers
         life and health or is offensive
    2: a bothersome annoying person; "that kid is a terrible pain"
       [syn: pain, pain in the neck, nuisance]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

55 Moby Thesaurus words for "nuisance":
   aggravation, annoyance, ass, bad news, bedevilment, besetment,
   bore, bother, botheration, bothersomeness, burden, buttonholer,
   crashing bore, devilment, difficulty, dogging, downer, drag, drip,
   dryasdust, dusty, exasperation, flat tire, frightful bore,
   harassment, harrying, hassle, headache, hounding, humdrum,
   inconvenience, irritant, irritation, molestation, nag, ordeal,
   persecution, pest, pester, pesterer, pill, plague, problem, proser,
   tease, tormenter, tormentor, trial, trouble, twaddler, vexation,
   vexatiousness, wet blanket, worriment, worry



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

NUISANCE, crim. law, torts. This word means literally annoyance; in law, it
signifies, according to Blackstone, "anything that worketh hurt,
inconvenience, or damage." 3 Comm. 216.
     2. Nuisances are either public or common, or private nuisances.
     3.-1. A public or common nuisance is such an inconvenience or
troublesome offence, as annoys the whole community in general, and not
merely some particular person. 1 Hawk. P. C. 197; 4 Bl. Com. 166-7. To
constitute a Public nuisance, there must be such 'a number of persons
annoyed, that the offence can no longer be considered a private nuisance:
this is a fact, generally, to be judged of by the jury. 1 Burr. 337; 4 Esp.
C. 200; 1 Str. 686, 704; 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 607, n. It is difficult to define
what degree of annoyance is necessary to constitute a nuisance. In relation
to offensive trades, it seems that when such a trade renders the enjoyment
of life and property uncomfortable, it is a nuisance; 1 Burr. 333; 4 Rog.
Rec. 87; 5 Esp. C. 217; for the neighborhood have a right to pure and fresh
air. 2 Car. & P. 485; S. C. 12 E. C. L. R. 226; 6 Rogers' Rec. 61.
     4. A thing may be a nuisance in one place, which is not so in another;
therefore the situation or locality of the nuisance must be considered. A
tallow chandler seeing up his baseness among other tallow chandlers, and
increasing the noxious smells of the neighborhood, is not guilty of setting
up a nuisance, unless the annoyance is much increased by the new
manufactory. Peake's Cas. 91. Such an establishment might be a nuisance in a
thickly populated town of merchants and mechanics, where Do such business
was carried on.
     5. Public nuisances arise in consequence of following particular
trades, by which the air is rendered offensive and noxious. Cro. Car. 510;
Hawk. B. 1, c. 755 s. 10; 2 Ld. Raym. 1163; 1 Burr. 333; 1 Str. 686. From
acts of public indecency; as bathing in a public river, in sight of the
neighboring houses; 1 Russ. Cr. 302; 2 Campb. R. 89; Sid. 168; or for acts
tending to a breach of the public peace, as for drawing a number of persons
into a field for the purpose of pigeon-shooting, to the disturbance of the
neighborhood; 3 B. & A. 184; S. C. 23 Eng. C. L. R. 52; or keeping a
disorderly house; 1 Russ. Cr. 298; or a gaming house; 1 Russ. Cr. 299; Hawk.
b. 1, c. 7 5, s. 6; or a bawdy house; Hawk. b. 1, c. 74, s. 1; Bac. Ab.
Nuisance, A; 9 Conn. R. 350; or a dangerous animal, known to be such, and
suffering him to go at large, as a large bull-dog accustomed to bite people;
4 Burn's, Just. 678; or exposing a person having a contagious disease, as
the small-pox, in public; 4 M. & S. 73, 272; and the like.
     6.-2. A private nuisance is anything done to the hurt or annoyance of
the lands, tenements, or hereditaments of another. 3 Bl. Com. 1215; Finch,
L. 188.
     7. These are such as are injurious to corporeal inheritance's; as, for
example, if a man should build his house so as to throw the rain water which
fell on it, on my land; F. N. B. 184; or erect his. building, without right,
so as to obstruct my ancient lights; 9 Co. 58; keep hogs or other animals so
as to incommode his neighbor and render the air unwholesome. 9 Co. 58.
     8. Private nuisances may also be injurious to incorporeal
hereditaments. If, for example, I have a way annexed to my estate, across
another man's land, and he obstruct me in the use of it, by plowing it up,
or laying logs across it, and the like. F. N. B. 183; 2 Roll. Ab. 140.
     9. The remedies for a public nuisance are by indicting the party. Vide,
generally, Com. Dig. Action on the case for a nuisance; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Vin.
Ab. h.t.; Nels. Ab. h.t.; Selw. N. P. h.t.; 3 Bl. Com. c. 13 Russ. Cr. b.
2, c. 30; 1 0 Mass. R. 72 7 Pick. R. 76; 1 Root's Rep. 129; 1 John. R. 78; 1
S. & R. 219; 3 Yeates' R. 447; 3 Amer. Jurist, 85; 3 Harr. & McH. 441; Rose.
Cr. Ev. h.t.; Chit. Cr. L. Index, b. t.; Chit. Pr. Index, b. t., and vol.
1, p. 383; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.