nightward 
nightward (mt'wiird), a. [< night + -trnrtl.] 
Approaching night; of arpertaifflng to evening. 
Their iii</M-wanl studies, wherewith they close the day's 
, vork Milton, Education. 
night-watch (nit'woch), . [< ME. nighticacchc, 
nilitioeeehe, < AS. nihtuneece, a night-watch, < 
niht, night, + wwcce, a watch: see watch. Cf. 
night-wake.] 1. A watch or period in the night. 
I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in 
the night watches. Ps - lxiii - B - 
2. A watch or guard in the night. 
NightKacche for to wake, waites to blow; 
Tore fyres in the tenttes, teudlis olofte. 
Deetruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7352. 
A critic, nay, a night-watch constable. 
Shak., L. L. L., iii. 1. 178. 
night-watcher (nit' woch"er), n. One who 
watches in the night, especially with' evil de- 
signs. 
night-watchman (mt'woch'''man), n. One who 
acts as a watchman during the night. 
night-Witch (nit'wich),w. A night-hag; awitch 
that appears in the night. 
night-work (nit' werk), n. Work done at night. 
nighty (nl'ti), a. [< night + -yl.~\ Of or pertain- 
ing to night. Davies. 
We keep thee midpathwith darcknesse nightye beueyled. 
Stanihwrst, Jineid, ii. 369. 
3994 
nilgau 
by 
-iminately 
whatever, to bring about changes in Russian social and 
political organization. The Century, XXXV. 51. 
nihilistic (ni-hi-lis'tik), a. [< nihilist + -4c.] 
Relating to the doctrine of social or political 
nihilism; characterized by nihilism: as, nihi- 
views. 
in dyeing, prepared from the hydrochlorid of -, -^ -^-^ " opp ' obrious and -,Ii8creditin K nickname, 
violauiline. This product is variously modified In the to all p e ',. son8 who were not satisfied with the existing 
process of manufacture : several shades, varying from order o( thillgs and w ] lo sought, by any active method 
blue through bluish-gray to gray-violet to black (the last 
being called niffrotbu\ are produced. Other names for 
the various other shades are violaniline, Elberfeld blue, 
bengaline, aniline gray, Coupler's blue, etc. 
nihil (ni'hil), n. [< L. nihil, contr. ml, also 
nihiium, contr. nilum, nothing, < ne, not, -t- liilniH, 
a little thing, a trifle. Ct.iiichil,ttiP.] Nothing. 
Clerk of the nlnils. See clerk. Nihil (or nil) ad 
rem nothing to the point or purpose. Nihil albumt, 
the flowers or white oxid of zinc. Ninil capiat per 
breve (that he take nothing by his writ), a common-law 
judgment against a plaintiff. Nihil (or nil) debet (he 
owes nothing), a plea denying a debt. Nihil (or nil) 
dicit (he says nothing), a common-law judgment when de- 
fendant makes no answer. Nihil habuit In tenementls 
(he had nothing in the tenement or holding), a plea in an 
action of debt brought by a lessor against a lessee for 
years, or at will without deed. 
(ni-hil'yan-izm), re. [< *nihiKan (< 
Cosmopolitan and nihilistic socialism. 
Orpen, tr. of Laveleye's Socialism, p. 244. 
nihility (ni-hil'i-ti), n. [= F. nihilite (16th 
century) ; < L. niliil, nothing, + -ity. Cf . ML. 
mhileitas.] The state of being nothing, or of 
no account or importance ; nothingness. 
There are many things on the Earth which would be ni- 
hility to the inhabitants of Venus. 
Poe, Prose Tales, I. 119. 
Of 
Of 
night-yard (nit'yard), n. A place where the 
contents of cesspools, night-soil, etc., collected 
during the night, are deposited ; a night-shoot, 
nigont, [ME., also nygon, nigoun, negon, negyn; 
< nig 1 + -on, a P. termination.] A niggard; a 
miser. 
To sow thereof am I no niyon. 
Occleve, MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 262. (Hattiwell.) 
nigrescence (ni-gres'ens), n. [< nigrescen(t) + 
-ce.] The process of becoming black. Science, 
VII. 84. 
nigrescent (m-gres'ent), a. [< L. nigrescen(t-)s, 
ppr. of nigrescere, 'become black, grow dark, 
inceptive of nigrere, be black, < niger, black : 
see negro.] Blackish; somewhat black; dusky; 
fuscous. 
nigricant (nig'ri-kant), a. [< L. nigrican(t-)s, 
be blackish, (niger, black: see nigrescent, etc.] 
In bot., same as nigrescent. 
nigrification (nig''ri-n-ka'shon), n. [<LL. nigri- 
fcare, make black, blacken, < L. niger, black, 
+ facere, make.] The act of making black. 
Johnson. 
nigrin, nigrine (ni'grin), n. [< L. niger (nigr-), 
black, + -in 2 , -Hie 2 .] A ferriferous variety of 
rutile. 
Nigrita (ni-gri'ta), n. [NL., < L. niger (nigr-), 
black.] A geniis of African weaver-birds of 
the family Ploceidte, established by Strickland 
in 1842. The species, more or less extensively black, are 
seven : If. canicapilla, emilue, luietfrons, fuscanotata, uro- 
pyyialis, tricolor, and arnaudi. 
nigrite (nig'rit), . [< L. niger (nigr-), black, 
+ -ite 2 .] An insulating composition composed 
of caoutchouc and the black wax left as a re- 
siduum in the distillation of paraffin. 
Nigrite core has a high insulation resistance, and is 
cheaper than gutta-percha. 
Dredge, Electric Illumination, I. 338. 
Nigritian (ni-grish'an), a. and n. [Also Negri- 
tian; < Nigritia (see def.) + -an.] I. a. Of or 
pertaining to Nigritia, a region in central Afri- 
ca, nearly equivalent to Sudan, and the home of 
the most pronounced types of the negro race ; 
hence, of or pertaining to the negro race. 
A congeries of huts of the ordinary Nigritian type. 
The Academy, No. 905, p. 148. 
II. n. An inhabitant of Nigritia; hence, a 
negro. 
The Nubians have, in skin, hair, or shape of head, no 
racial connection with the Nigritians, who are pure ne- 
groes. Science, XIII. 159. 
nigrities (ni-grish'i-ez), n. [L., < niger, black.] 
Dark pigmentation. 
nigritude (nig'ri-tud), n. [< L. nigritudo, black- 
ness, < niger, black : see nigrescent.] Blackness. 
I like to meet a sweep, . . . one of those tender novices, 
blooming through their first nigritude, the maternal wash- 
ings not quite effaced from the cheek. 
Lamb, Chimney Sweepers. 
nigromancient, n. [ME., also nigremancien, < 
OF. nigromancien, a necromancer,< nigromancie, 
necromancy: see necromancy.] Anecromancer. 
Hee cliped hym his clerkes full conning of witt, 
Full noble Nigremanciens. 
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), 1. 837. 
nigrornancyt, n. See necromancy. 
nigrosine (nig'ro-sin), H. [< L. niger (nigr-), 
black, + -ose +'-ine%.] A coal-tar color used 
his view that the divine nature did not undergo 
any change in the incarnation, and that there- 
fore Christ did not become human, 
nihilism (ni'hil-izm), n. [= F. nihilisme = Sp. 
nihilismo; as L. nihil, nothing, + -ism.] 1. 
In metaph., the doctrine that nothing can really 
be known, because nothing exists ; the denial 
of all real existence, and consequently of all 
knowledge of existences or real things. 
Nihilism is scepticism carried to the denial of all exis- 
tence. Fleming, Vocab. Philos. 
2. In theol,. same as nihilianism. 3. Total dis- 
in religion, morality, law, and order. 
Nihilism arrives sooner or later. God Is nothing ; man 
is nothing; life is nothing ; death is nothing ; eternity is 
nothing. J. F. Clarke, Ten Great Religions, viii. 4. 
4. (a) Originally, a social (not a political) move- 
ment in Russia, in opposition to the customary 
forms of matrimony, the parental authority, 
and the tyranny of custom. In this sense the 
word was introduced by Turgeneff in 1862. See 
nihilist, 3. (6) Later, a more or less organ- 
ized secret effort on the part of a large body 
of malcontents to overturn the established or- 
der of things, both social and political. Nihilism 
comprises several Russian parties, differing in the means 
of action employed and in the immediate results aimed at, 
some leaning more toward political radicalism and vio- 
lence and others toward economic reorganization and 
socialism. The movement originated about 1840, and is 
due largely to the influence of the universities. About 
1855-62 it became increasingly democratic, socialistic, and 
revolutionary under the leadership of Herzen and the 
magazine "Contemporary." Aboutl870revolutionaryideas 
became the subject of a propaganda among workmen. 
and the establishment of a socialistic and democratic or- 
der in its stead. Under the influence of Bakunin (died 
1876) and the persecution of peaceful propagandists by the 
government, the people's party divided into two factions, 
the "democratization of land" and the "will of the peo- 
ple," the latter being the stronger. This partv was by 
government persecutions driven to a political contest, and 
the idea of demoralizing the forces of the government by 
terror originated and became popular : the adherents of 
this system called themselves "terrorists." After several 
unsuccessful attempts they effected the death of the Czar 
Alexander II. in 1881. 
nihilist (ni'hil-ist), n. [= F. nihilists = Sp. ni- 
liilista = Buss, niiilistu; as L. nihil, nothing, + 
-ist.] 1. One who believes in nothing; one who 
advocates the metaphysical doctrine of nihil- 
ism. 
For thirty-rive years of my life I was, in the proper ac- 
ceptation of the word, a nihilist not a revolutionary 
socialist, but a man who believed in nothing. 
Tolstoi, My Religion (trans.X Int. 
2. One who rejects all the positive beliefs upon 
which existing society and governments are 
founded ; one who demands the abolition of the 
existing social and political order of things. 
"A nihilist," said Nicholas Petrovitch, . . . "signifies a 
man who . . . recognizes nothing?" "Or rather who re- 
looks at everything from a critical point of view," said 
Arcadi. "Does not that come to the same thing?" asked 
his uncle. "No, not at all ; a nihilist is a man who bows 
before no authority, who accepts no principle without ex- 
amination, no matter what credit the principle has." 
Tmgenie/, Fathers and Sons (tr. by Schuyler), v. 
Specifically 3. An adherent of nihilism; a 
member of a Russian secret society which 
aims at the overthrow of the existing order of 
things, social, political, and religious; a Rus- 
sian anarchist or revolutionary reformer. See 
iiihiliitm, 4. 
The word Nihafyt was introduced in Russia by Turge- 
nef, who used it in his novel "Fathers and Children" to 
describe a certain type of character . . . which he con- 
trasted sharply and effectively with the prevailing types 
in the generation which was passing from the stage. The 
word . . . was soon caught up by the conservatives and 
Nike Adorning a Trophy.-Greek intaglio of the 4th century B. C., 
in British Museum. (From "Jahrbuch des Institute, 1888.) 
victory, called by the Romans Victoria. She was 
regularly represented in ancient art as a winged maiden, 
usually as just alighting from flight, her most frequent at- 
tributes being a palm-branch in one hand and a garland 
in the other, or a fillet outstretched in both hands ; some- 
times she holds a herald's staff. 
nil 1 , f- and n. See nill 1 . 
nil 2 (nil), n. [L., contracted form of niliil, 
nothing: see nihil.] Nothing. Nil method. Same 
as null method (which see, under method). 
nil desperandum (nil des-pe-ran'dum). [L. : 
nil, contr. of nihil, nothing (see nihil) ; despe- 
randum, gerundive of desperare, despair: see 
despair.] Nothing is to be despaired of that 
is, never despair, or never give up. 
nilfaciend (nil'fa-shiend), n. [< L. nil, nothing, 
+ faciendus, gerundive of facere, make : see 
fact.] In math., a faciend giving a product 
zero. 
nilfacient (nil'fa-shient), n. [< L. nil, nothing 
(see nil), + facien(t-)s, ppr. of facere, make: 
see facient, 2.] In math., a facient giving a 
product zero. 
nilfactor (nil'fak"tor), n. [< L. nil, nothing, + 
factor, a doer, maker : see/actor, 5.] Inmath., 
a factor giving a product zero. 
nilgau, nilghau (nil'ga), . [Also nylghau, 
nylghai, neelghau, neelgye, etc., < Pers. nilgau, 
Hind, nilgau, nilgai, lilgdi, lit. 'blue ox,' < nil, 
blue, + gau, ox, cow: see cow; 1 .] A large In- 
dian antelope, Portux pictus, related to the ad- 
dax and the oryx, of a bluish-gray color, with 

Nilgau (Portax fictus). 
