NICKNAME


Meaning of NICKNAME in English

— nicknamer , n.

/nik"naym'/ , n. , v. , nicknamed, nicknaming .

n.

1. a name added to or substituted for the proper name of a person, place, etc., as in affection, ridicule, or familiarity: He has always loathed his nickname of "Whizzer."

2. a familiar form of a proper name, as Jim for James and Peg for Margaret.

v.t.

3. to give a nickname to (a person, town, etc.); call by a nickname.

4. Archaic. to call by an incorrect or improper name; misname.

[ 1400-50; late ME nekename, for ekename (the phrase an ekename being taken as a nekename ). See EKE 2 , NAME; cf. NEWT ]

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .