Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Lexicon: nicely – nimble
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nicely, adv. [see nice, adj.]
Delicately; precariously; skillfully; adeptly; accurately; exactly.
nickname (-ed), v. [ON aukanafn, an additional name.]
Dub; give a pet name; call by a cognomen, moniker, or epithet.
Nicodemus (Nicodemus'), proper n. [Gk nikos, conquest + dēmos, people = 'victorious among his people'.]
New Testament pharisee; follower who asked Christ how a man may be born again; man who came to prepare the body of Christ for burial before the resurrection (see ED's letters); [phrase “Nicodemus' Mystery”] question posed by Nicodemus to Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” (see John 3:1-21).
niggard, adj. [Obscure origin; probably Scandinavian.]
Sparing; stingy; miserly; [fig.] insufficient; deficient; meager; inadequate; short-term; small in amount of time.
niggardly, adj. [see niggard, adj.]
- Avaricious; mean; petty; covetous.
- Sparse; insufficient; deficient; meager; inadequate.
night (-s, -'s), n. [OE.]
- Nox; [personification] time of darkness from dusk to dawn.
- Time preceding daylight; hours from sunset to sunrise; period when the sun is beneath the horizon.
- Evening; time prior to the next day.
- Darkness; decline of the day.
- Ignorance; moral darkness; warped state; concealment from the eyes; obscurity.
- Death; end of life.
- Dark half of day; twelve hours of darkness; [fig.] brief time of death; short period of dying.
- Adversity; distress; state of unrest.
- Phrase. “Good night”: evening greeting; salutation for bedtime; [fig.] farewell to deceased loved one.
- Phrase. “Wild nights”: process of dying; time of death; passing away to the other side (see L331, ED's 1869 letter to Perez Cowan, “Dying is a wild Night”).
- Phrase. “Last night”: the previous evening; the evening of the day before.
nightfall, n. [see night, n. + fall, v.]
Dusk; evening; sunset; end of day; beginning of night.
nightgown (-s), n. [see night, n. + gown, n.]
- Sleep wear; soft dress worn to bed; [fig.] sepals that close at night to protect a flower's petals and inner parts.
- Shift; chemise; tunic; garment to keep one warm; [metaphor] angel robe; [fig.] feathers.
nightingale, n. [OE nihtegale.]
Song-bird; philomela; a thrush which has a melodious nocturnal song; [epithet] Charlotte Brontë; the beloved author.
nimble, adj. [OE.]
- Agile; adroit; artful; ready to act; [fig.] thoughtful; attentive.
- Lively; swift; energetic; [fig.] spiritually alive.
- Gymnastic; limber; supple; full of activity.