Old Nick
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of Old Nick
First recorded in 1660–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Broad Branch is one of a few distilleries trying to curb the shortage of hygiene products, and at least one of two in the Triad with Old Nick Williams Farm and Distillery in Lewisville.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 22, 2020
Their best answer to date is the other “goblin metal” closely associated with cobalt, nickel, whose name comes from a German spirit closely related to Old Nick.
From Economist ● Mar. 22, 2018
His deputy called him diabolus bibliothecae, “the devil of the library”; others referred to him simply as Old Nick.
From The New Yorker ● May 1, 2017
Nameless and storyless, Donoghue's Old Nick has a fairytale, bogeyman quality.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 13, 2010
It is the finest English powder," said he; "it runs like silver grains in the hand, and fires like Old Nick.
From The Invasion of France in 1814 by Alexandre Chatrian
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
