nugget
/ˈnʌɡət/ noun, verb
Forms nuggets nuggeting nuggetting nuggeted nuggetted
- noun (countable) A small, compact chunk or clump. “a gold nugget”
- noun (countable) A chicken nugget.
- noun (countable) A tidbit of something valuable. “a nugget of wisdom”
- noun (countable) A small piece of tasty food, a tidbit.
- noun (uncountable) A type of boot polish.
- noun (countable) A bud from the Cannabis sativa plant, especially one that is potent.
- noun (countable, slang) An inexperienced, newly trained fighter pilot.
- noun (computing theory) A partial description gleaned from data mining.
- verb To find nuggets (of something valuable)
- verb (slang, Australia, New Zealand) To smear a male's genitals or anus with boot polish or similar substance against his will.
Etymology
Uncertain, first attested in reference to animals & people in Scotland and in reference to ore chunks in Australia. Possibly from southern English nug (“lump, block”) or Scottish knudge/nudge (“short, sturdy person or animal”) + -et (“forming diminutives”) or from rebracketed alteration of an ingot as a ni(n)got.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [Earlier niggot, prob. for nigot, an ingot. See Ingot.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “nugget”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details