n.
- a silvery-white metal resembling iron, the chemical element of atomic number 28.
(Symbol: Ni)
- N. Amer. informal a five-cent coin.
v.
(nickels, nickelling, nickelled; US nickels, nickeling, nickeled)
coat with nickel.
Etymology
C18: shortening of Ger. Kupfernickel, the copper-coloured ore from which nickel was first obtained, from Kupfer ‘copper’ + Nickel ‘demon’ (with ref. to the ore's failure to yield copper).
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