nugget

[ nuhg-it ]

noun

1. a lump of something, as of precious metal.
2. a lump of native gold.
3. anything of great value, significance, or the like:

   nuggets of wisdom.

4. a bite-size piece of chicken, fish, etc., usually batter-fried.
5. Welding. (in a spot-weld) the metal fused.
6. Australian.
   1. a powerful, heavy animal.
   2. a strong, thickset man.

Nugget

¹

/ ˈnʌɡɪt /

noun

1. shoe polish

verb

1. informal.
   tr; sometimes not capital to shine (shoes)

nugget

²

/ ˈnʌɡɪt /

noun

1. a small piece or lump, esp of gold in its natural state
2. something small but valuable or excellent

Other Words From

• nugget·y adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nugget¹

1850–55; perhaps diminutive of obsolete nug small piece, variant of nog ²; -et

Word History and Origins

Origin of nugget¹

C19: origin unknown

Example Sentences

Then this mixture will be shipped off to KFC’s kitchens, where the nuggets will take shape and be coated in the Colonel’s secret seasoning.

From MIT Technology Review

Eventually, in 2019, as more and more cultured-food businesses began trying to make everything from meat to fish to chicken nuggets in a lab, several friends convinced her to revive her plan.

From MIT Technology Review

Right now, a single Bitcoin—the digital mining equivalent of a gold nugget—is worth around $20,000.

From Fortune

In an all-cash transaction, I paid him €60 for a few nuggets.

From Fortune

It’s classic Vonnegut, one of many nuggets of dark humor in “Love, Kurt,” a collection of letters discovered by Edith, the couple’s oldest daughter, in the attic of the family’s home on Cape Cod.

From Washington Post

I always find at least one nugget of information that I can immediately apply to the work I do.

From The Daily Beast

The Wen Wei Po article contains a nugget that tells us why Beijing wanted to get back at the regime in Pyongyang.

From The Daily Beast

Yet inside this shabby story is a nugget of insight screaming to get out.

From The Daily Beast

They also found a gold nugget, an original script by Virgil, and a check for €100,000 made out to Benedict XVI.

From The Daily Beast

“Maybe serve a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a chicken nugget,” she says.

From The Daily Beast

Thirdly, there certainly was gold on their Alder Creek claims, and Lucky's nugget was probably now uncovered.

From Project Gutenberg

They could not find a stone for their lives, so, being hungry, Robinson threw a small nugget of gold he had in his pocket.

From Project Gutenberg

The nugget now yielded slowly to the pressure and began to come up into the world again inch by inch after so many thousand years.

From Project Gutenberg

George and Robinson carried the great nugget on a handkerchief stretched double across two sticks, Jem carried the picks.

From Project Gutenberg

The rest cleared the wood, and brought the nugget, safe hidden in their pocket-handkerchief, to camp.

From Project Gutenberg