nickel

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: Niatomic number 28nickel note

WordNet 3.0

Noun (3)

  1. a hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion; used in alloys; occurs in pentlandite and smaltite and garnierite and milleriteSynonyms: Niatomic 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”Synonyms: nickel note

Verb (1)

  1. plate with nickel“nickel the plate”
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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 of atomic number 28. 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 58.70. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

2.A small coin made of or containing nickel; esp., a five-cent piece. [Colloq. U.S.] [1913 Webster]

Nickel silver, an alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc; -- usually called german silver; called also argentan. [1913 Webster]

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