- news flash n. See newsbreak
- newsmonger n. One who spreads news, especially a gossip.
- newspeak n. Deliberately ambiguous and contradictory language used to mislead
and manipulate the public.
- newsprint n. Inexpensive paper made from wood pulp and used chiefly for
printing newspapers. Also called newspaper.
- newsreel n. A short film dealing with recent or current events.
- newsy adj. Informal Full of news; informative. -newsiness n.
- newt n. Any of several small, slender, often brightly colored salamanders of
the European genus T. or the North American genera N. and T. living chiefly on
land but becoming aquatic during the breading season.
- next of kin n. pl. next of kin 1. The person or persons most closely related
by blood to another person. 2. Law b. The relative or relatives entitled to
share in the personal property of one who dies intestate.
- nexus n. 1. A means of connection; a link or tie. 2. A connected series or
group. 3. The core or center: "The real nexus of the money culture [was] Wall
Street."
- nib n. 1a. The sharpened point of a quill pen. b. A tapered point of a pen,
designed to be inserted into a penholder or fountain pen. 2. A sharp point or
tip. 3. A bird's beak or bill.
- nibs n. Informal A person in authority, especially one who is self-important.
Used with his or her: His nibs says we must do it.
- Nicaragua, Lake The largest lake of Central America, in the southwest
Nicaragua. The freshwater lake contains fish, such as tuna and sharks, usually
found only in salt water because it was part of the Caribbean Sea until land
masses rose around it in prehistoric times.
- nice adj. 5. Overdelicate or fastidious; fussy. 6. Showing or requiring great
precision or sensitive discernment; subtle: a nice distinction; a nice sense
of style. 7. Done with delicacy and skill: a nice bit of craft. 8. Used as an
intensive with and: nice and warm. 9. Obsolete a. Wanton; profligate. b.
Affectedly modest; coy.
- nice-nelly adj. 1. Priggish. 2. Marked by the use of euphemism: nice-nelly
language.
- nick n. 1. A shallow notch, cut, or indentation on an edge or surface: nicks
in the table; razor nicks on his chin. 2. Chiefly British Slang A prison or
police station. tr.v. 1a. To cut a nick or notch in. b. To cut into and would
slightly: a silver of glass nicked my hand. 2. To cut short; check: nicked an
impulse to flee. 3. Slang To cheat, especially by overcharging. 4. Chiefly
British Slang a. To steal. b. To arrest.
- nickel-and-dime Informal adj. 1. Involving or paying only a small amount of
money: a nickel-and-dime job. 2. Minor; small-time: "a nickel-and-dime
operation run out of a single borrowed room" (New York) v. -intr. To spend
very little money. -tr. 1. To drain or destroy bit by bit, especially
financially: nickel-and-dimed the project to death. 2. To accumulate in small
amounts: "nickel-and-diming a substantial bankroll together"(Newsweek).
- nicker -intr.v. To neigh softly. -nicker n.
- nicotiana n. Any of various flowering annual or perennial herbs of the genus
Nicotiana, native to the Americas and including the tobacco plant and
ornamental species with fragrant flowers.
- nide n. A nest or brood of pheasants.
- nidicolous adj. 1. Remaining in the nest after hatching until grown or nearly
grown. Used of a bird. 2. Sharing the nest of another species of animal:
nidicolous mites.
- nidify intr.v. To build a nest.
- nidus n. 1. A nest, especially one for the eggs of insects, spiders, or small
animals. 2. A cavity where spores develop. 3. Pathology A central point or
focus of bacterial growth in a living organism. 4. A point or place at which
something originates, accumulates, or develops, as the center around which
salts of calcium, uric acid, or bile acid form calculi.
- Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm 1844-1900. German philosopher who reasoned that
Christianity's emphasis on the afterlife makes its believers less able to cope
with earthly life. He argued that the ideal human, the Ubermensch, would be
able to channel passions creatively instead of suppressing them.
- nifty Slang adj. First-rate; great: a nifty idea.
- niggard n. A stingy, grasping person; a miser. adj. Stingy; miserly.
- niggle -intr.v. 1. To be preoccupied with trifles and petty details. 2. To find
faults constantly and trivially; carp. Syn@quibble.
- niggling adj. 1. Petty, especially in a nagging or annoying way; trifling: a
pointless dispute over niggling details. 2. Overly concerned with details;
exacting and fussy.
- nigh adv. 1. Near in time, place, or relationship: Evening draws nigh. 2.
Nearly; almost: talked for nigh onto two hours. adj. 1. Being near in time,
place, or relationship; close. 2a. Being on the left side of an animal or
vehicle: pulling hard on the nigh rein. b. Being the animal or vehicle on the
left: the nigh horse. prep. Not far from; near. tr.&intr.v. To come near to or
draw near.
- night crawler n. Any of various large earthworms that crawl out from the
ground at night and are often used as fish bait. Also called nightwalker.
- night letter n. Abbr NLT A telegram sent at night at a reduced rate for delivery
the next morning.
- nights adv. During the nighttime on every day or most days: She works nights
at the restaurant.
- nightscape n. 1. A view or representation of a night scene.
- nightshade family n. A family of plants, the Solanaceae, characterized by
alternate leaves, usually five-petaled flowers, and many-seeded fruits and
including the eggplant, tomato, potato, and belladonna as well as the
nightshades, capsicum peppers, tobaccos, and petunias.
- nightstick n. A club carried by a police officer.
- nil n. Nothing; zero. -nil adj.
- nill v. -tr. Not to will; not to wish. -intr. To be unwilling; will not.
- nim1 v. tr&intr. Archaic To steal; pilfer.
- nimbus n. 1. A cloudy radiance said to surround a classical deity when on
earth. 2. A radiant light that appears usually in the form a circle or halo
about or over the head in the representation of a god, demigod, saint, or
sacred person such as a king or an emperor. 4. A rain cloud, especially a low
dark layer of clouds such as a nimbostratus.
- NIMBY n. Slang One who objects to the establishment in one's neighborhood of
projects, such as incinerators, prisons, or homeless shelters, that are
believed to be dangerous, unsightly, or otherwise undesirable. (Not In My
Backyard)
- Niobe n. Greek Mythology The daughter of Tantalus who, after boasting that she
had more children than Leto, suffered the killing of her own children by
Artemis and Apollo, and turned to stone while bewailing their loss.
- nip1 v. -tr. 1. To seize and pinch or bite: The fish nipped the wader's toe.
2. To remove or sever by pinching or snipping: nipped off the plant leaf. 3.
To bite or sting with the cold; chill. 4. To check or cut off the growth or
development of: a conspiracy that was nipped in the bud by the police. 5.
Slang a. To snatch up hastily. b. To take (the property of another)
unlawfully; steal. -intr. Chiefly British To move quickly; dart. n. 3a. A
sharp, stinging quality, as of frosty air. b. Severely sharp cold or frost. 4.
A cutting remark. 5. A sharp, biting flavor; a tang: the nip of Mexican salsa.
- nip2 Informal n. A small amount of liquor. v. -tr. To sip (alcoholic liquor)
in small amounts: had been nipping brandy. -intr. To take a sip or sips of
alcoholic liquor: nips all day long.
- nipper n. 1. A tool, such as pliers or pincers, used for squeezing or nipping.
Often used in the plural.
- nipping adj. 1. Sharp and biting, as the cold. 2. Bitingly sarcastic.
- nippy adj. 1. Tending to nip: an exuberant nippy puppy. 2. Sharp or biting:
nippy cheese. 3. Bitingly cold: a nippy fall day.
- nip-up n. Sports An acrobatic spring from a supine to an upright position.
- nit1 n. The egg or young of a parasitic insect, such as a louse.
- nite n. Informal night.
- nitrocellulose n. A pulpy or cottonlike polymer derived from cellulose treated
with sulfuric and nitric acids and used in the manufacture of explosives,
collodion, plastics, and solid monopropellants. Also called guncotton,
cellulose nitrate.
