NI

Multiple Entries:
  NI    Ni    nickel  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
NI

▶abbreviation

• 1 (in the UK) National Insurance.

• 2 Northern Ireland.

• 3 NZ the North Island.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Ni

▶symbol the chemical element nickel.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
nickel/ˈnɪkl/

▶noun

• 1 a silvery-white metal resembling iron, the chemical element of atomic number 28. (Symbol: Ni)

• 2 N. Amer. informal a five-cent coin.

▶verb (nickels, nickelling, nickelled; US nickels, nickeling, nickeled) coat with nickel.

– origin C18: shortening of Ger. Kupfernickel, the copper-coloured ore from which nickel was first obtained, from Kupfer ‘copper’ + Nickel ‘demon’ (with ref. to the ore's failure to yield copper).