nixn.2
/nɪks/, U.S. /nɪks/ Mythology.
= nixie n.1
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > fairy or elf > [noun] > nature-spirit > inhabiting water
lady of the lake1579
shoupiltin1711
wraith1755
nixie1816
undine1821
nix1833
Jenny Greenteeth1850
1833 T. Keightley Fairy Mythol. II. 71 The female Nixes frequently go to the Market to buy meat.
1854 Old Story-Teller Pref. 3 The ideal regions inhabited by dwarfs, and nixes, and enchanted steeds.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. Prel. 3 He begins to people the weird places of the earth with weird beings and sees nixes in the dark linns as he fishes by night.
1883 ‘Ouida’ Wanda II. 149 There are nixes in the forests.
1893 R. Garnett Nix in Poems 116 The crafty Nix, more false than fair, Whose haunt in arrowy Iser lies.
1999 Encycl. Brit. Online (Version 99.1) Nix, also called Nixie or Nixy... In some regions, nixes are said to abduct human children and to lure people into deep water to drown.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
nixadj.
/nɪks/, U.S. /nɪks/ slang (originally and chiefly U.S.).
= no adj. Esp. in phrases representing Anglicization of German phrases, as nix fish-tins, etc.In quot. 1846 apparently: no good.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [adjective] > no, none, or not any
nanyeOE
no (none) suchOE
noneOE
none-kinsOE
nolOE
no kina1400
zero1823
nix1846
nought1945
bugger-all1948
damn all1953
fuck-all1961
eff-all1965
zilch1969
zip1969
zippo1973
sod all1978
negative1984
1846 ‘Lord Chief Baron’ Swell's Night Guide (new ed.) 48 Rutty is a tidy workman, but as his nibs was nicks at a dovetail, the donna cracked a wid to him.
1866 Capt. Flack Prairie Hunter (1879) xxi. 98 When ‘Nix-forstay’ (a common nickname for the Germans in the far south-west) returned..he proceeded to rake the fire for his supper.
1877 E. L. Wheeler Deadwood Dick, Prince of Road 81 ‘Nix cum-a-rouse!’ disagreed the old prospector.
1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands vii. 84 No man can reasonably expect t' live ther life iv er hindependent gent on er nix income.
1928 H. Crane Let. 31 Jan. (1965) 315 One can generally ‘place’ people to some extent; but out here it's mostly nix.
1945 G. Morgan Only Ghosts can Live xii. 144 ‘Nix Fish-Tins.’ Gefangener—German for ‘Nicht verstehen’: I don't get you.
1971 Daily Tel. 12 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 21/2 Oh, I just said battery kaput, nix lights, nix motor.
1991 R. Osborne Conversat. with Karajan (BNC) The chorus was better at shouting than singing; they thought this was the true Wagner style. Toscanini put a stop to all that at his first rehearsal for Tannhäuser: ‘No, no, nix Wagner, nix Bayreuth—café chantant!’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
nixv.
/nɪks/, U.S. /nɪks/ slang (originally and chiefly U.S.).
1. transitive. To cancel, reject, forbid, refuse (a thing or person); to deny (a request); to criticize (a film, book, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > refusal > [verb (transitive)]
warnc897
willeOE
forbidc1000
warnc1000
willOE
asake1250
withsay1297
gainsayc1330
recusea1387
naitc1390
to say naya1393
again-say?a1400
denyc1400
withnayc1400
biwern1413
refuse?1435
resist1539
detrect1542
renege1545
detract1572
waive1642
declinea1691
nay-say1762
nay-saya1774
nix1903
off1908
ixnay1937
society > authority > subjection > prohibition > prohibit [verb (transitive)]
forwarnc893
warnc893
forbidOE
forhightc1315
defendc1325
forfend1382
dischargec1450
prohibit?a1475
bidc1475
withsay1484
fenda1500
abara1504
prohibit1526
debara1529
forbodec1540
exempt1553
forspeak1565
disbar1567
forsay1579
enjoin1589
abjudicate1602
countermanda1616
forjudge1675
restrict1766
oppose1814
fen1823
embargo1824
nix1903
ixnay1937
1903 G. Ade People you Know 156 Nix the Orphan Asylum... They would bring a million witnesses to prove that I had been out of my Head for 20 years.
1935 Variety 17 July 1 (heading) Sticks Nix Hick Pix.
1945 in H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (1960) 356/1 The blue-penciler nixed the story.
1961 New Left Rev. July 53/1 Every time somebody nixes..paid work to fulfil an unpaid commitment..my faith..is..restored.
1973 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 22 Aug. 11/1 (heading) Nude bathing nixed.
1988 J. Brady Stone of Heart (1990) 161 Kilmartin would have him nixed off the list.
1990 Premiere June 114/2 The film was neither a critical nor a box office success in the U.S. In a particularly savage review, Variety nixed it.
2. to nix out (on): to get rid of, put paid to.In quot. 1934 the part of speech is not clear.
ΚΠ
1934 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 39 675 Twelve of the words peculiar to the vocabulary of delinquent boys were given such that both an anti-social and an ordinary interpretation could be given them... The words used were: lam, little joe..nix-out, motor-heat..heist, sawbuck.
1940 Music Makers May 37/3 Nix out, to eliminate, get rid of. Ex. ‘I nixed that chick out last week.’
1945 L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 29/2 Nix out, to erase.
1946 M. Mezzrow & B. Wolfe Really Blues vii. 84 The owner nixed big crowds out.
1969 Times 25 July 5/2 Nix out on the fade with it stashed on the moke.
1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 85 Nix out, to throw away.
1995 Guitar Player (Nexis) Feb. 73 My mom's gonna be reading this, so if you could nix out any little cuss words, I'd really appreciate it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
nixadv.
/nɪks/, U.S. /nɪks/ slang (originally and chiefly U.S.).
= no adv.2 and int.; not possibly, not at all.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > negation > [adverb] > no
noOE
nayc1175
nonea1382
naw1699
nix1862
naow1884
uh-uh1885
nah1886
nope1888
ixnay1929
the mind > language > statement > dissent or disagreement > [adverb] > expression of correction
noOE
nix1862
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [adverb] > not > not at all
noughteOE
nothingOE
nonewaysc1225
not a dealc1250
nothing soa1393
no-gatea1400
no-gatesa1400
no waya1400
nowaysa1400
riff no raff?a1400
in (also on, by) no kins way(s) (or wise)c1400
nowisec1425
no whitc1520
none1533
never a dysec1540
vengeance1556
in no sort1561
none ofc1571
nil1581
none1651
nowhat1651
nohow1775
du tout1824
nowt1828
nix1862
nary1895
1862 E. S. Ellis Hunter's Cabin 34 ‘Have you asked her yet?’ ‘Nix; I'm going to ask her next time.’
1886 E. L. Wheeler N.Y. Nell 4 Nix! it's what suits me.
1919 C. A. Smith New Words Self-defined 129 ‘We'll run you right in.’ ‘Nix, bo, not me... You jest lemme be here and git busy with them guys that's hurt. I'm on the waitin' list.’
1926 J. Black You can't Win vi. 67 ‘I'll go to the farmhouse..and buy something.’ ‘Nix, nix,’ said one; ‘buy nothin'.’
1932 D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xxiii. 309 As for getting an experienced actor and giving him a show in the part—nix!
1959 ‘J. R. Macdonald’ Galton Case (1960) xvi. 132 ‘He..wanted his old job back. Nix.’ A gesture of his spread hand swept Lemberg into the dust-bin.
1989 Forbes 20 Mar. 189/1 We..have all said nix to sleaze shows... We just don't feel that, given our corporate image, we want to put our advertising in that kind of hard-edged environment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
nixint.n.1
/nɪks/, U.S. /nɪks/ colloquial.
A. int.
‘Beware!’ ‘Look out!’ Also occasionally as a children's truce term.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > warning of imminent danger or evil > warning cry [interjection] > to warn of someone's approach
nix1753
psht1770
cave1868
nit1898
the world > action or operation > ceasing > cease activity [verb (intransitive)] > leave off! or stop it!
to do waya1325
stay1601
go and eat coke1669
to leave off1785
whoa1838
drop it!1843
cut1859
turn it up1867
to come off ——1896
to chuck it1901
knock it off!1902
cut it out1903
nix1903
break it down1941
to shove it1941
leave it out!1969
1753 J. Poulter Discoveries 42 Nix in whideling; don't speak.
1860 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) Nix!, the signal word of school boys to each other that the master, or other person in authority, is approaching.
1885 Indoor Paupers 45 So the thing goes on until some one on the watch cries, ‘Nix lads, buttons!’—the warning that the taskmaster is at hand.
1887 H. S. Brown Autobiogr. x. 51 The word ‘nix’ saw every man and boy at his place.
1903 H. Hapgood Autobiogr. Thief viii. 180 I started in to talk about old times in the stir and..he answered me by saying ‘Nix’, which meant ‘Drop it.’
1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren viii. 152 Nicks or nix. Prevailing term [sc. as a truce-word] in Warwick.
B. n.1 † b. U.S. = nixie n.2 1. Only in plural. Obsolete.
a. Nothing; nobody.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > nothing > nothing at all
noughtOE
neither tip nor toe1610
nix1781
damn the haet1787
no nothing1815
zero1823
all1842
neither hide nor hair1857
zip1900
nixie1906
damn all1910
fuck-all1916
Fanny Adams1919
bugger-all1921
S.F.A.1933
not a sausage1938
shit1949
zilch1956
eff-all1958
sod all1958
diddly-squat1963
diddly1964
jack-all1965
niente1969
zippo1973
feck-all1975
hee-haw1975
naff all1977
jack squat1986
1781 G. Parker View Society & Manners II. 81 He..would stand no Hook and Snivey, or Nix the Buffer.
1789 G. Parker Life's Painter xiv. 126 It won't do I say, to stand here for nicks—all hearers and no buyers—what, will none of you drop your loose kelter?
1789 G. Parker Life's Painter xv. 143 How they have brought a German word into cant I know not, but nicks means nothing in the cant language.
1824 J. Badcock Boxiana IV. 444 Men who can be backed for large stakes do seldom fight for nix (comically called love).
1858 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold iii. i Do you see all this land?..the grandfather of this here Lord Southwark got it for ‘nix’.
1890 W. C. Russell Ocean Trag. ii She has been exhorting me to choose a companion.., but it would have to be you or nix.
1912 G. Frankau One of Us (1918) v. 45 How, one by one, each frenzied Wall Street member, As Steels or Unions wilted down to nixes, Forsoote the Banks of Finance for the Styx's.
1929 A. Conan Doyle Maracot Deep 14 If I pull down fifty bucks a week it's not for nix.
1949 M. McLuhan Let. 30 Apr. (1987) 213 How he has bulldozed and four-flushed on just exactly nix in his mit.
1984 S. Bellow Him with his Foot in his Mouth 38 All that he had was for the new family; for the old family, nix.
ΚΠ
1879 Postal Laws & Regulations (U.S.) 113 Misdirected second-class matter (‘nixes’).
1883 U.S. Official Postal Guide Jan. 733 ‘Nixes’ is a term used..to denote matter of domestic origin, chiefly of the first and second class, which is unmailable.
Phrases
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > be of no importance [phrase]
forcec1330
no wardc1330
no strength1340
no forcec1369
no mattera1466
what force?a1513
no skill1575
what matter?1678
the game (play, etc.) is not worth the candlea1699
nix my dolly1795
what the hell1872
1795 H. T. Potter New Dict. Cant & Flash (ed. 2) Nix, or nix my doll, nothing.
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 191 Nix, or Nix my doll, nothing.
1834 W. H. Ainsworth Rookwood II. iii. v. 344 Nix my doll palls, fake away.
1840 Spirit of Times 21 Nov. 454 Says he to me..‘What's the matter?’ Why says I, ‘Nix my doll.’
1840 T. Hood Miss Kilmansegg i, in New Monthly Mag. 60 91 The very puppet she had to pet, Like a bait for the ‘Nix my Dolly’ set, Was a Dolly of gold—and solid!
1844 W. M. Thackeray Little Trav. in Fraser's Mag. May 521/1 A fat Englishman..is drinking cold gin-and-water in the moonlight, and warbling softly, ‘Nix my dolly, pals, fake away.’
1879 J. R. Planché Sleeping Beauty in T. F. D. Croker & S. Tucker Extravaganzas ii. ii. 85 (stage direct.) Air... ‘Nix my Dolly.’
P2. to keep nix: to keep watch or lookout. See nit n.3 and sense A.
ΚΠ
1869 Young Gentleman's Mag. Apr. 229 ‘Keeping nix’ was, in other words, keeping a look out that no person might catch us.
a1897 T. E. Brown Coll. Poems (1900) 336 Keepin' nix, And list'nin' for each other's picks.
1914 J. Joyce Dubliners 47 Her father used often to hunt them in out of the field with his blackthorn stick; but usually little Keogh used to keep nix and call out when he saw her father coming.
a1966 ‘M. na Gopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 324 Keep nix while the new lodger's letters are being steamed.
1990 B. Roche Poor Beast in Rain i. ii. 26 You were outside keepin' nix.
P3. nix on: enough of, no more of.
ΚΠ
1902 ‘H. McHugh’ It's up to You iii. 55 We decided before we stepped on the Pullman that it would be nix on the sweetheart talk.
1923 R. D. Paine Comrades Rolling Ocean iv. 62 Camp Stuart at ten o'clock. Nix on that kid stuff.
1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 49 Nix on it!: Stop it! Lay off!
1990 P. Chester Murder Forestalled (BNC) 123 She started for the telephone. ‘Nix on that,’ I said sharply.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.21833adj.1846
v.1903adv.1862int.n.11753