Meanings
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1
noun
a coin worth five cents in the United States or Canada
She found a nickel beneath the vending machine.
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2
noun
a hard, silvery chemical element that resists corrosion and is used in alloys and plating
The manufacturer added nickel to the steel to improve its resistance to corrosion.
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3
verb
to coat a metal object with a thin layer of nickel
The workshop will nickel the fittings before polishing them.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Borrowed from German Nickel, used by the Swedish mineralogist Axel F. Cronstedt as a shortening of Kupfernickel, from Kupfer ("copper") + Nickel, a nickname for Nikolaus. Miners applied the name to deceptive copper-colored ore that yielded no copper; it was later transferred to the newly identified metal and then to the five-cent coin.