nickel

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. 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. n. A U.S. coin worth five cents, made of a nickel and copper alloy.
3. n. Slang A nickel bag.
4. v. To coat with nickel.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Chemical symbol, Ni; atomic weight, 58. A metal closely related to cobalt, with which it almost always occurs. The two are, in fact, so much alike that their chemical separation is by no means an easy task. The specific gravity of nickel is given at 8.357 when cast, and 8.729 if rolled; in this and in atomic weight it differs little from cobalt. Nickel and cobalt are also closely allied to iron, which they resemble in color, although slightly whiter than that metal, the former having rather a yellowish tinge, the latter a bluish. They are both magnetic, but in a less degree than iron. Both also stand on a par with that metal in regard to most of those qualities which make it valuable in the arts, namely tenacity, malleability, and ductility, but both are so much scarcer than iron that there is no possibility of their replacing that metal to any considerable extent. The occurrence of nickel (as also of cobalt) in connection with iron in meteorites is interesting and peculiar. (See meteorite.) The native metal of terrestrial origin has been found in only one locality, Fraser river, where it occurs in small flattened grains among the scales of gold. The ores of nickel are somewhat widely disseminated, but nowhere occur in great abundance. The arseniuret (kupfernickel) and the silicate are the principal sources of this metal, the latter having been found within a few years in considerable quantity in New Caledonia, where it is exceptionally free from cobalt. Nickel was discovered by Cronstedt in 1751; but it is only within a few years that it has begun to be of considerable commercial importance. Its value has varied greatly since it came into general use. It is an ingredient of certain valuable alloys and especially of German silver, and is now much experimented with in this direction. It Is largely used for plating iron in order to improve its appearance and preserve it from rusting. It is also somewhat extensively employed in coinage, in the United States, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and Mexico. Nickel bromide has been used in medicine as an antispasmodic, and the chlorid and sulphate as tonics.
2. n. In the United States, a current coin representing the value of five cents, made of an alloy of one part of nickel to three of copper.
3. Consisting of or covered with nickel.
4. To plate or coat, as metal surfaces, with nickel, either by electrolytic processes or by chemical operations.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable A silvery elemental metal with an atomic number of 28 and symbol Ni.
2. n. US, Canada, countable A coin worth 5 cents.
3. n. US slang, by extension Five dollars.
4. n. US slang, by extension Five hundred dollars.
5. n. US slang Interstate 5, a highway that runs along the west coast of the United States.
6. n. slang A playing card with the rank of five
7. n. US slang A five-year prison sentence.
8. v. transitive To plate with nickel.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Chem.) A bright silver-white metallic element of atomic number 28. 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 58.70.
2. n. Colloq. U.S. A small coin made of or containing nickel; esp., a five-cent piece.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. five dollars worth of a drug
2. v. plate with nickel
3. n. a hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion; used in alloys; occurs in pentlandite and smaltite and garnierite and millerite
4. n. a United States coin worth one twentieth of a dollar