The Collaborative International Dictionary
Nickel \Nick"el\, n. [G., fr. Sw. nickel, abbrev. from Sw. kopparnickel copper-nickel, a name given in derision, as it was thought to be a base ore of copper. The origin of the second part of the word is uncertain. Cf. Kupfer-nickel, Copper-nickel.]
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(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.
Note: On account of its permanence in air and inertness to oxidation, it is used in the smaller coins, for plating iron, brass, etc., for chemical apparatus, and in certain alloys, as german silver. It is magnetic, and is very frequently accompanied by cobalt, both being found in meteoric iron.
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A small coin made of or containing nickel; esp., a five-cent piece. [Colloq. U.S.]
Nickel silver, an alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc; -- usually called german silver; called also argentan.
Usage examples of "german silver".
Platinoid, the professor said solemnly, is preferred to German silver because it has a lower coefficient of resistance by changes of temperature.
It was German silver, and crippled and rusty, but it was so preposterously out of place there that it was suggestive of a tattered exiled king among barbarians, and the majesty of its native position compelled respect even in its degradation.
Upon these cloths he placed little plates of German silver to which were attached wires which led back of a screen.
It was a moderate-sized one with two blades, light-colored scales of jigged bone, and bolsters of German silver.
Then he took out his watch, a great, old-fashioned German silver thing as big as a turnip and looked at it, with his eyebrows gathered together and a little impatient shrug of his shoulders.
As the local deputy watched bemused, Longarm opened it up to expose a badge of German silver and some rather official-looking identification.