nicker

== English == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈnɪkə(ɹ)/ Rhymes: -ɪkə(ɹ) Homophones: knicker, nikka (non-rhotic) === Etymology 1 === (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) ==== Noun ==== nicker (plural nicker) (British, slang) Pound sterling. ===== Synonyms ===== (pound sterling): pound (standard), pound sterling (standard), quid (slang), sov (slang) ===== Derived terms ===== Alan Whicker === Etymology 2 === Imitative; from 1774. ==== Noun ==== nicker (plural nickers) A soft neighing sound characteristic of a horse. Hypernym: neigh Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) whinny A snigger or suppressed laugh. ==== Verb ==== nicker (third-person singular simple present nickers, present participle nickering, simple past and past participle nickered) To make a soft neighing sound characteristic of a horse. Hypernym: neigh Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) whinny To produce a snigger or suppressed laugh. ===== Translations ===== ==== Alternative forms ==== nicher nigher === Etymology 3 === From nick +‎ -er. ==== Noun ==== nicker (plural nickers) (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 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. (informal) Someone who nicks (steals) something, a thief. ==== Verb ==== nicker (third-person singular simple present nickers, present participle nickering, simple past and past participle nickered) (UK, informal) To snatch or steal. === Etymology 4 === From Middle English niker, from Old English nicor, from Proto-Germanic *nikwis. 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. ==== Noun ==== nicker (plural nickers) A type of mythological sea creature or sea monster; also, a water sprite; a nix or nixie; a mermaid or merman. Hippopotamus. ===== Alternative forms ===== nikker === Etymology 5 === Mispronunciation of nigger. ==== Noun ==== nicker (plural nickers) (euphemistic, vulgar, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) nigger. === See also === === Anagrams === Cernik, Kincer, Renick