nickel

plural nickels

1. uncountableA silvery elemental metal with an atomic number of 28 and symbol Ni.
2. CanadaUScountableA coin worth 5 cents.

   That is just objectively terrifying regardless of contexts! He looks like if a nickel did cocaine!

   2017 October 8, “Confederacy”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 26, John Oliver (actor), via HBO

   Synonyms: jitney

3. USbroadlycountableslanguncountableFive dollars.
4. USbroadlycountableslanguncountableFive hundred dollars.
5. UScountableslanguncountablesometimes the nickel or the hot nickelInterstate 5, a highway that runs along the West Coast of the United States.
6. countableslanguncountableA playing card with the rank of five.
7. UScountableslanguncountableA five-year prison sentence.
8. countableuncountableAmerican footballA defensive formation with five defensive backs, one of whom is a nickelback, instead of the more-common four.
9. UKcountableuncountableWorld War IIAn airborne propaganda leaflet.

   Many types of nickels were used in psychological warfare. Classified according to general purpose, there were strategic and tactical leaflets.

   1948, The Army Air Forces in World War II, volume 3, Office of Air Force History, →ISBN, page 495

   2 more examples

   Colonel Hazeltine still had trouble persuading air commanders to drop the nickels. Pilots profanely protested against risking their necks on such foolishness. But in the end 15,000,000 leaflets a week were being dropped on Sicily and Italy.

   1945, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 217, Curtis Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 79

   Nickels, the code-name for propaganda leaflets, were ordinary 8-1/2×11" sheets of paper either printed on both sides or folded in half and printed on all four sides. […] On most of our flights, after leaving the DZ or landing strip we distributed 150 to 450 pounds of nickels over designated areas, and a few of our missions were nickel runs only.

   2010, Richard H. Kraemer, The Secret War in the Balkans, Author House, →ISBN, page 136

1. USdatedidiomaticnot comparableSynonym of cheap: Low price and/or low value.

   Let me give you the nickel tour of the office.

   Synonyms: sixpenny, tinhorn, two a penny, bargainous, brand X, budget, cheap, cheapie

present singular third person nickels · US participle present nickeling · UK participle present nickelling · US participle past nickeled · US past nickeled · UK participle past nickelled · UK past nickelled

1. transitiveTo plate with nickel.
2. UKWorld War IITo distribute airborne leaflet propaganda.

   We flew numerous nickeling missions over the population centers of Southern France, dropping thousands of pounds of leaflets.

   1966, Monro MacCloskey, Secret Air Missions, R. Rosen Press, →OCLC, page 36

   2 more examples

   The 422d Bombardment Squadron extended the scope of its operations considerably in April and "attacked" Norwegian targets with the leaflet bomb. The number of cities nickeled per mission also increased until it was common for fifteen to twenty-five to be scheduled as targets for a five-plane mission.

   1948, The Army Air Forces in World War II, volume 3, Office of Air Force History, →ISBN, pages 496–497

   From southern Greece to northern Italy, nickeling supplied both occupied peoples and their occupiers with fairly frequent and generally accurate reports of the war — in many cases, their only authoritative source of information.

   2010, Richard H. Kraemer, The Secret War in the Balkans, Author House, →ISBN, page 136

1. A surname originating as a patronymic.