nickel

nick·el   Pronunciation Key  (nkl)
n.
  1. Symbol Ni A silvery, hard, ductile, ferromagnetic metallic element used in alloys, in corrosion-resistant surfaces and batteries, and for electroplating. Atomic number 28; atomic weight 58.69; melting point 1,453°C; boiling point 2,732°C; specific gravity 8.902; valence 0, 1, 2, 3. See table at element.
  2. A U.S. coin worth five cents, made of a nickel and copper alloy.
  3. Slang. A nickel bag.

tr.v. nick·eled, or nick·elled nick·el·ing, or nick·el·ling nick·els or nick·els
To coat with nickel.

[Swedish, short for kopparnickel, niccolite, partial translation of German Kupfernickel : Kupfer, copper + Nickel, demon, rascal, from the deceptive copper color of the ore (from the name Nikolaus, Nicholas).]

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


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. 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 58.6.

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.

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

Nickel silver, an alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc; -- usually called german silver; called also argentan.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


nickel

adj 1: costing 5 dollars; slang for the price of unlawful drugs; "a nickel bag" 2: priced at 5 cents; "I can still remember when a nickel ice-cream cone cost only 10 cents" n 1: a hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion; used in alloys; occurs in pentlandite and smaltite and garnierite and millerite [syn: Ni, atomic number 28] 2: a US coin worth one twentieth of a dollar v : plate with nickel; "nickel the plate"
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University


nickel
Symbol: Ni
Atomic number: 28
Atomic weight: 58.71
Malleable ductile silvery metallic transition element. Discovered by A.F.
Cronstedt in 1751.

Source: The Elements