nickname Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name)
    moniker; cognomen; byname; sobriquet; soubriquet.
    • Joe's mother would not use his nickname and always called him Joseph
    • Henry's nickname was Slim
  2. noun a descriptive name for a place or thing
    • the nickname for the U.S. Constitution is `Old Ironsides'
  3. verb give a nickname to
    dub.

WordNet

Nick"name` noun
Etymology
OE. ekename surname, hence, a nickname, an ekename being understood as a nekename, influenced also by E. nick, v. See Eke, and Name.
Definitions
  1. A name given in contempt, derision, or sportive familiarity; a familiar or an opprobrious appellation.
Nick"name` transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Nicknamed present participle & verbal noun Nicknaming
Definitions
  1. To give a nickname to; to call by a nickname.
    You nickname virtue; vice you should have spoke. Shak.
    I altogether disclaim what has been nicknamed the doctrine of finality. Macaulay.

Webster 1913