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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

nicker en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈnɪkə(ɹ)/

Meanings

  1. (UK, slang) Pound sterling.
    • Seems? Well, this seems to be a waste of my time. That is 900 nicker in any shop you're lucky enough to find one in. And you're complaining about 200? What school of finance did you study? 1998, Guy Ritchie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (motion picture), spoken by Tom (Jason Flemyng):
    • This coat cost me 50 nicker.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
nicker Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

Alan Whicker

Synonyms

pound sterling (pound sterling) · pound (pound sterling) · sov (pound sterling) · quid (pound sterling)

wikidata: Q25224

nicker en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈnɪkə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Imitative; from 1774.

Meanings

  1. A soft neighing sound characteristic of a horse.
  2. A snigger or suppressed laugh.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
nickers Number=Plur lexicographic

Coordinates

whinny

Hypernyms

neigh

nicker en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈnɪkə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Imitative; from 1774.

Meanings

  1. To make a soft neighing sound characteristic of a horse.
    • "Nasrullah's nickerin’, Mr. Arthur. Somethin's wrong." "Hell, he's nickered before. He nickers all the time!" Robinson and Snow looked at each other, saying nothing for a moment, and finally Snow told Hancock that Nasrullah never nickered in the paddock. 1988, William Nack, Secretariat: The Making of a Champion, Da Capo Press, published 2002, page 58:
    • Behind him, old Akthoob was grumbling loudly, saying something about the midday meal, and Haral, the black Feridoon pony, snuffing in the old, familiar scent of the green meadows of the Chaya's banks, the warm sweet smells of home, was nickering eagerly. 1971, Lin Carter, The Quest of Kadji, Wildside Press, published 1999, page 187:
    • After a few minutes, the mare walked over and nickered loudly in his ear, and he immediately got to his feet and stripped the gear from the waiting horse. 2012, Jim Campbell, Bobcat, Xlibris, page 21:
  2. To produce a snigger or suppressed laugh.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
nigher alternative lexicographic
nicher alternative lexicographic
nickered Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
nickered Tense=Past lexicographic
nickers Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
nickering Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Coordinates

whinny

Hypernyms

neigh

Translations (4)

ru ржа́ть (to neigh softly) · pt relinchar (to neigh softly) · lv zviegt (to neigh softly) · bg цвиля леко (to neigh softly)

nicker en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈnɪkə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From nick + -er.

Meanings

  1. (obsolete, slang) One of the night brawlers of London formerly noted for breaking windows with halfpence.
    • 1713-1714, John Arbuthnot, Memoirs of Martin Scriblerus your modern musicians want art to defend their windows from common nickers
  2. The cutting lip which projects downward at the edge of a boring bit and cuts a circular groove in the wood to limit the size of the hole that is bored.
  3. (informal) Someone who nicks (steals) something, a thief.
    • He […] was far more interested in the fact that I was a car thief and an expert driver than that I was a bandit. […] Car nicker, are you? 1934, Eddie Browne, Road Pirate: The Confessions of a Motor Bandit, page 141:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
nickers Number=Plur lexicographic

nicker en · VERB · etymology 3

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈnɪkə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From nick + -er.

Meanings

  1. (UK, informal) To snatch or steal.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
nickered Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
nickered Tense=Past lexicographic
nickers Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
nickering Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

nicker en · NOUN · etymology 4

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈnɪkə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From Middle English niker, from Old English nicor, from Proto-Germanic *nikraz. Cognate with German Nix (“water demon”) and German Nixe (“female water-spirit”); also related to Old Norse nykr (“water demon”) (see there for further descendants). Doublet of nix.

Meanings

  1. A type of mythological sea creature or sea monster; also, a water sprite; a nix or nixie; a mermaid or merman.
    • And in another tale, told at Kemnitz of the Nicker, as he is there called, when he asks the midwife how much he owes her, she answers that she will take no more from him than from other people. 1891, Edwin Sidney Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales, page 48:
  2. Hippopotamus.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
nickers Number=Plur lexicographic
nikker alternative lexicographic

nicker en · NOUN · etymology 5

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈnɪkə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Mispronunciation of nigger.

Meanings

  1. (derogatory, ethnic, euphemistic, offensive, slur, vulgar) nigger.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
nickers Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

nicker bean · nicker tree · nicker nut