nick 
mua.- (nik), . [Avar, of nock, prob. in part 
due to confusion with nick'*, but mainly for di- 
minutive effect, as in tip, var. of top, etc., tick- 
lock, imitative of a light and a heavy stroke, etc. 
Cf. G. knick, a flaw, knicken, crack. There are 
perhaps several orig. diff . words confused under 
this form.] 1. A hollow cut or slight depres- 
sion made in the surface of anything; a notch. 
Split that forked stick, with such a nick or notch at one 
end of it as may keep the line from any more of it ravel- 
ling from about the stick than so much of it as you intend. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 137. 
The hollow groove extending across the shank [of a 
ferent founts o 
me body. Encyc. 
. 698. 
3986 
or in the nick of time that is, at the right mo- 
ment, just when most needed or demanded. 
The masque dogg'd me, I hit it in the nick; 
A fetch to get my diamond, my dear stone. 
Middleton, Blurt, Master-Constable, ii. 2. 
Most fit opportunity ! her grace comes just f th' nick. 
Ford, Love's Sacrifice, ii. 2. 
I never could have found him in a sweeter temper for 
mv purpose to be sure, I'm just come in the nick! 
Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 3. 
This harsh restorative . . . was presented to English 
poetry in the nick of time. 
E. Gosse, From Shakespeare to Pope, p. 40. 
3. A lucky or winning throw in the game of 
hazard: as, eleven is the nick to seven. See 
hazard, 1. 
notched sticks. 3t. A false bottom in a beer- 
can, by which customers were cheated, the 
nick below and the froth above filling up part 
of the measure. 
Cannes of beere (malt sod in fishes broth), 
And those they say are flll'd with nick and froth. 
Rowlands, Knave of Hearts (1613). (Nares.) 
Out Of all nlckt, past all counting. 
I tell you what Launce, his man, told me ; he loved her 
out of all nick. Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 2. 76. 
nick 1 (nik), v. [< nick 1 , n.~] I. trans. 1. To 
make a nick or notch in ; notch ; cut or mark 
with nicks or notches. 
My master preaches patience to him, and the while 
His man with scissors nicks him like a fool. 
Shak.,C. of E., v. 1. 175. 
The farmer is advised [in Fitzherbert's book on Hus- 
bandry, published in 1523) to have a payre of tables (tab- 
lets), and to write down anything that is amiss as he goes 
his rounds ; if he cannot write, let him nycke the defautes 
upon a stycke. Oliphant, The New English, I. 407. 
2. To sever with a snip or single cut, as with 
shears. [Scotch.] 
" Ay, ay ! " quo he [Death], and shook his head, 
" It's e en a lang, lang time indeed 
Sin' I began to nick the thread, 
And choke the breath." 
Burns, Death and Doctor Hornbook. 
3f. To cut short; abridge. See nick 1 , n., 3. 
The itch of his affection should not then 
Have nick'd his captainship at such a point. 
Shak., A. and C., iii. 13. 8. 
There was a tapster, that with his pots smalnesse, and 
with frothing of his drinke, had got a good summe of mon- 
ey together. This nicking of the pots he would never 
leave. Life of Jiobin Goodfettow (1628). (Halliwell.) 
4f. To break or crack; smash as the nickers 
used to do. See nicker^, 2. 
You men of wares, the men of wars will nick ye ; 
For starve nor beg they must not. 
Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1. 
Breaks Watch-men's Heads, and Chair-men's Glasses, 
And thence proceeds to nicking Sashes. 
Prior, Alma, iii. 
5. In coal-mining, to cut (the coal) on the side, 
after kirving, holing, or undercutting. The part 
of the coal-seam which has been kirved and nicked is then 
ready to be wedged or blasted down. To nick a horse's 
tall, to make an incision at the root of the tail to cause 
the horse to carry it higher. 
nick 2 t (nik), v. i. [< ME. nickcn, nikken = OFries. 
hnekka = MD. nickcn, D. nikken, also knikken, 
nod, wink, = MLG. LG. nicken = OHG. nicchen, 
MHG. G. nicken = Sw. nicka = Dan. nikke, nod ; 
freq. of AS. hnigan = OS. hnigan = OFries. 
hniga, niga = D. nijgen = MLG. nigen OHG. 
hnigan, nigan, MHG. nigen = Icel. hniga = Sw. 
niga = Dan. neje = Goth, hneiwan, strong verb, 
incline, bow, sink, fall; cf. AS. hncegan, gehtia>- 
gan = OS. hnegan = OHG. h iieigan, neigcn, MHG. 
G. neigen = Goth. Imaiwjan, weak verb, cause 
to incline, bend, etc.; perhaps akin to L. co- 
nivere, wink at, nicere, beckon, nictarc, wink : 
see connive, nictate, nictitate.'] To nod; wink. 
To nick with nay, to meet one with a refusal; dis- 
appoint by denying. 
gif sche nickes with nay & nel noujt com sone. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4145. 
As I have but one boon to ask, I trust you will not nick 
me with nay. Scott, Abbot, xxxviii. 
nick 3 (nik), n. [Perhaps a particular use of 
nick 1 , as a ' point marked' ; otherwise < nick 2 , 
a ' wink' in the sense of ' moment.'] 1. Point, 
especially point of time : as, in the nick of that 
is, on the point of (being or doing something). 
Schol. Does the sea stagger ye ? 
Mast. Now ye have hit the nick. 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 6. 
In the nick of being surprised, the lovers are let down 
and escape at a trap-door. Steele, Guardian, No. 82. 
2. The exact point (of time) which accords 
with or is demanded by the necessities of the 
case; the critical or right moment; the very 
moment : used chiefly in the phrases TO the nick 
In these verses by reason one of them doth as it were 
nicke another, and haue a certaine extraordinary sence 
with all. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 111. 
Words nicking and resembling one the other are appli- 
able to different significations. Camden, Remains, p. 158. 
And then I have a salutation will nick all. 
B. Jomon, Cynthia's Revels, 11. 1. 
The just season of doing things must be nicked, and all 
accidents improved. Sir X. L' Estrange. 
He had . . . just nicked the time of dinner, for he came 
in as the cloth was laying. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 3. 
2f. In gaming, to throw or turn up; hit or hit 
upon. 
My old luck : I never nicked seven that I did not throw 
ames ace three times following. 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, iii. 
3t. To delude or deceive ; cozen ; cheat, as at 
dice. 
We must be sometimes witty, 
To nick a knave ; 'tis as useful as our gravity. 
Fletcher (and another ?), Prophetess, iii. 1. 
4. To catch in the act. Halliwell. [Prov. 
Eng.] To nick the nick, to hit exactly the critical 
moment or time. Halliwell. 
II. intrans. 1. To fit; unite or combine; 
be adapted for combining: said, in stock-breed- 
ing, of the crossing of one strain of blood with 
another. 2. To suit; compare; be compara- 
ble. [Colloq.] 
Only one sport "nicks" with cycling, and that is fair toe 
and heel walking, doubtless owing to the strengthening 
of the legs generally, and the ankle work. 
Bury and HUlier, Cycling, p. 227. 
3. In the game of hazard, to throw a winning 
number. Compare nick 3 , n., 3. 4f. To bet; 
gamble. 
Thou art some debauch'd, drunken, leud, hectoring, 
gaming Companion, and want'st some Widow's old Gold 
to nick upon. Wycherlen, Plain Dealer, ii. 1. 
Nick 4 (nik), n. [Not found in ME.; known in 
mod. use only in Old Nick, the devil, supposed 
to be a perverted use of (St.) Nicholas (G. Nico- 
latis, in popular form Nickel, applied to the devil, 
etc.). It is otherwise taken to be derived, with 
a transfer of sense, from AS. nicor, a water- 
goblin: for this, see nicker 1 . ~] The devil: usu- 
ally witli the addition of Old. 
Don't swear by the Styx. 
It 's one of Old kick's 
Most abominable tricks 
To get men into a terrible fix. 
J. G. Saxe, Dan Phaeton. 
nick 8 t (nik), v. t. [< nick(name).'] To nick- 
name ; hence, to annoy or tease by nicknaming. 
Warbeck, as you nick him, came to me, 
Commended by the states of Christendom, 
A prince, though in distress. 
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iv. 3. 
nickar-nuts, n. pi. Same as bondac-sceds. 
nickar-tree, n. See nicker-tree. 
nick-eared (nik'erd), a. Crop-eared. 
Thou nick-eared lubber. 
Sir H. Taylor, Ph. van Artevelde, II., iii. 1. 
nicked (nikt), p. a. [< nick 1 + -ed 2 .'] Notched ; 
emarginate; specifically, in cntom., having a 
small but distinct notch : said of a margin. 
nickel (nik'el), . and a. [= D. G. nickel = 
Dan. nikkel = F. nickel = Euss. nikkeK = NL. 
niccoliim,<, Sw. nickel, nickel, so called by Cron- 
stedt in 1754, abbr. from Sw. kopparnickel (G. 
kupfernickel), a mineral containing the metal, < 
koppar (=E. copper) + "nickel, a word identified 
by some with G. Nickel, the devil (see Nick*) 
(cf. cobalt as related to kobold), and by others 
compared with Icel. hnikill (Haldorson), a ball, 
lump.] I. . 1. Chemical symbol, Ni ; atomic 
weight, 58. A metal closely related to cobalt, 
with which it almost always occurs. The two are, 
in fact, so much alike that their chemical separation is by 
no means an easy task. The specific gravity of nickel is 
given at 8.357 when cast, and 8.729 if rolled; in this and 
in atomic weight it differs little from cobalt. Nickel and 
nicker 
cobalt are also closely allied to iron, which they resemble 
in color, although slightly whiter than that metal, the 
former having rather a yellowish tinge, the latter a bluish. 
They are both magnetic, but in a less degree than iron. 
Both also stand on a par with that metal in regard to most 
of those qualities which make it valuable in the arts, 
namely tenacity, malleability, and ductility, but both are 
so much scarcer than iron that there is no possibility of 
their replacing that metal to any considerable extent. 
The occurrence of nickel (as also of cobalt) in connection 
with iron in meteorites is interesting and peculiar. (See 
meteorite.) The native metal of terrestrial origin has been 
found in only one locality, Fraser river, where it occurs 
in small flattened grains among the scales of gold. The 
ores of nickel are somewhat widely disseminated, but no- 
where occur in great abundance. The arseniuret (kup- 
fernickel) and the silicate are the principal sources of this 
metal, the latter having been found within a few years in 
considerable quantity in New Caledonia, where it is ex- 
ceptionally free from cobalt. Nickel was discovered by 
Cronstedt in 1751 ; but it is only within a few years that 
it has begun to be of considerable commercial impor- 
tance. Its value has varied greatly since it came into 
general use. It is an ingredient of certain valuable al- 
loys and especially of German silver, and is now much 
experimented with in this direction. It is largely used 
for plating iron in order to improve its appearance and 
preserve it from rusting. It is also somewhat exten- 
sively employed in coinage, in the United States, Belgium, 
Switzerland, Germany, and Mexico. Nickel bromide has 
been used in medicine as an antispasmodic, and the chlorid 
and sulphate as tonics. 
2. In the United States, a current coin repre- 
senting the value of five cents, made of an al- 
loy of one part of nickel to three of copper. 
[Colloq.] 
II. a. Consisting of or covered with nickel. 
nickel (nik'el), v. t. ; pret. and pp. nickeled or 
nickelled, ppr. nickeling or nickelling. [< nickel, 
n.] To plate or coat, as metal surfaces, with 
nickel, either by electrolytic processes or by 
chemical operations. 
nickelage (nik' el-aj),. [< nickel + -age.'] The 
art or process of nickel-plating. Also nickelure. 
What he [Ladislas Adolphe Gaiffe] called " nickelure," 
and what his imitators style nickelage, has become an ex- 
tensive industry. Set. Amur., N. S., LVL 840. 
nickel-bloom (nik'el-blom), n. Same as anna- 
bergite. 
nickel-glance (nik'el-glans), n. Same as gers- 
dorffite. 
nickel-green (nik'el-gren), n. Same as anna- 
bergite. 
nickelic (nik'el-ik), a. [< nickel + -ic.] Per- 
taining to or containing nickel. 
nickeliferous (nik-e-lif'e-rus), a. [< nickel + 
L. ferre = E. bear 1 .'] Containing nickel: as, 
nickeliferons pyrrhotite. Also niccoliferous. 
nickeline (nik'el-in), n. [< nickel + -ine^.'} 
Same as niccolite. 
nickelize (nik'el-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp. nickcl- 
ized, ppr. nickelizing. [< nickel + -ize.] Same 
as nickel. Also nickelise. 
Nickelised or nickel-plated iron should be employed. 
Ure, Diet., IV. 338. 
nickel-OCher (nik'el-6'ker), n. Same as anna- 
bergite. 
nickelous (nik'el-us), a. [< nickel + -OM.S.] Be- 
lated to or containing nickel. 
nickel-plated (nik'el-pla/ted), a. Coated or 
plated with nickel. 
nickel-plating (nik'el-pla"ting), n. The process 
of covering the surface of metals with a coating 
of nickel, either by means of a heated solution 
or by electrodeposition, for the purpose of im- 
proving their appearance or their wearing qual- 
ities, or of rendering them less liable to oxida- 
tion by heat or moisture. 
nickel-silver (nik'el-sil"ver), n. One of the 
many names of the alloy best known in English 
as German silver, and in German as Neusilber. 
See German silver, under silrer. 
nickelure (nik'el-x7ir), . [< nickel + -lire.'] 
Same as nickelage. 
nicker^ (nik'er), n. [< ME. "nicker, nycker, 
niker, nikyr, nyker, nykyr, a water-sprite, < AS. 
nicor (in inflection also nicer-, nicr-, nicer-, 
nicer-), a sea-monster, a hippopotamus, = MD. 
nicker, necker, D. nikker = MLG. nicker, LG. 
nikker (?) (> G. nicker) = OHG. nihhus, nichns, 
MHG. niches, nickes (very rare), a crocodile, G. 
iiir, a water-sprite (also fern. OHG. nicchessa, 
MHG. "niehese, "nixe, in comp. vasser-nixe, wa- 
ter-sprite) (whence E. nix 1 , nixy 1 , >, q. v.), = 
Icel. nykr, a water-goblin, a hippopotamus, = 
Sw. iK'fk, niick = Dan. nok, nrikkctt, a water-sprite : 
appar. orig. applicable to any " monster of the 
deep " not definitely named (as the crocodile, 
hippopotamus), and transferred to imaginary 
water-sprites ; perhaps akin to Or. r/fc iv, vinrnv, 
Skt. / nij, wash. This word, becoming asso- 
ciated with one of the old Teutonic supersti- 
tions, passed out of common use, and its traces 
