nixie
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of nixie1
First recorded in 1880–85; nix 1 + -ie
Origin of nixie2
1810–20; < German Nixe ( Middle High German nickese, Old High German nicchessa; nix 2 ), perhaps construed at time of borrowing as nix 2 + -ie
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.
I think of the river and how, when one nixie detached from the others, Cardan waited until it paused and then left so we could get out of the water.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Her face was flushed and her nixie eyes were dancing to the mischief she contemplated.
From An Orkney Maid by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston
The kitchen fire was this salamander's second element, for the first and native element of this dear nixie was water.
From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul
"This is a nixie trying to lure me to the depth," I thought.
From A King's Comrade A Story of Old Hereford by Whistler, Charles W. (Charles Watts)
Thus the mysterious nixie swam up and down the lake ten or twelve times, in the profoundest silence.
From The Children of the World by Heyse, Paul
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.
