▪ I. nix, n.1 slang.
Also 8 nicks.
[In sense 1 a. colloquial Du. and G. nix, for (nichs) nichts.]
1. a. Nothing; nobody. Also, = no adv.3; not possibly.
| 1789 G. Parker Life's Painter (c 1800) 130 How they have brought a German word into cant I know not, but nicks means nothing in the cant language. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Nix, or Nix my doll, nothing. 1824 Egan Boxiana IV. 444 (F.), Men who can be backed for large stakes do seldom fight for nix (comically called ‘love’). 1858 Mayhew Paved with Gold iii. i, Do you see all this land?..the grandfather of this here Lord Southwark got it for ‘nix’. 1890 Clark Russell Ocean Trag. ii, She has been exhorting me to choose a companion.., but it would have to be you or nix. 1909 Dialect Notes III. 352 Nit, nix(y, adv. Variants of no. Slang. 1926 J. Black You can't Win vi. 67 ‘I'll go to the farmhouse..and buy something.’ ‘Nix, nix,’ said one; ‘buy nothin'.’ 1929 A. Conan Doyle Maracot Deep 14 If I pull down fifty bucks a week it's not for nix. 1932 D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xxiii. 309 As for getting an experienced actor and giving him a show in the part—nix! 1951 Green & Laurie Show Biz 570/1 Nix, no, veto, thumbs-down. 1959 ‘J. R. Macdonald’ Galton Case (1960) xvi. 132 ‘He..wanted his old job back. Nix.’ A gesture of his spread hand swept Lemberg into the dust-bin. |
b. U.S. In pl. nixes, postal matter which cannot be forwarded from its not being properly addressed.
| 1885 in Cent. Dict. |
c. Phr. nix on, enough of, have done with, no more of. colloq.
| 1902 ‘H. McHugh’ It's up to You iii. 55 We decided before we stepped on the Pullman that it would be nix on the sweetheart talk. 1923 R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean iv. 62 Camp Stuart at ten o'clock. Nix on that kid stuff. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 49 Nix on it!: Stop it! Lay off! |
d. = no a.; none, negligible. (Also directly from G. nix (or nichts), in bilingual conversation.)
| 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands vii. 84 No man can reasonably expect t' live ther life iv er hindependent gent on er nix income. 1928 H. Crane Let. 31 Jan. (1965) 315 One can generally ‘place’ people to some extent; but out here it's mostly nix. 1945 G. Morgan Only Ghosts can Live xii. 144 ‘Nix Fish-Tins.’ Gefangener—German for ‘Nicht verstehen’: I don't get you. 1971 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 12 Nov. 21/2 Oh, I just said battery kaput, nix lights, nix motor... And we fix. But all European trucks stop for each other here. |
2. nix my dolly, a phrase (explained as meaning ‘never mind’) used by Ainsworth and echoed by other writers.
| 1834 Ainsworth Rookwood iii. v, Nix my dolly, pals, fake away. 1840 Hood Kilmansegg, Childhood vi, The very puppet she had to pet, A bait for the ‘Nix my Dolly’ set, Was a Dolly of gold—and solid! 1844 Thackeray Little Trav. vi. [copying Ainsworth]. |
3. A word used as a signal that some one in authority is approaching. Also, as a children's ‘truce-word’. Also keeping nix, keeping watch.
| 1860 in Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2). 1869 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 229 ‘Keeping nix’ was, in other words, keeping a look out that no person might catch us. 1885 Indoor Paupers 45 So the thing goes on until some one on the watch cries, ‘Nix lads, buttons!’—the warning that the taskmaster is at hand. 1887 H. S. Brown Autobiog. x. 51 The word ‘nix’ saw every man and boy at his place. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. viii. 152 Nicks or nix. Prevailing term [as a truce-word] in Warwick. |
▪ II. nix, n.2
[a. G. nix masc., earlier nicks, nichs, MHG. nickes, niches, OHG. nichus: see nicker n.1]
A water-elf. (Cf. nixie1.)
| 1833 Keightley Fairy Mythol. II. 71 The female Nixes frequently go to the Market to buy meat. 1854 Old Story-Teller Pref. 3 The ideal regions inhabited by dwarfs, and nixes, and enchanted steeds. 1865 Kingsley Herew. Prel., He begins to people the weird places of the earth with weird beings and sees nixes in the dark linns as he fishes by night. 1883 ‘Ouida’ Wanda II. 149 There are nixes in the forests. |
▪ III. nix, v.
[f. nix n.1]
1. trans. To cancel, forbid, refuse. Freq. as imp., beware, cease (doing something).
| 1903 H. Hutchins Autobiogr. Thief viii. 180, I started in to talk about old times in the stir and..he answered me by saying ‘Nix’, which meant ‘Drop it’. 1914 [see eyeful n. c]. 1934 M. H. Weseen Dict. Amer. Slang xxi. 371 Nix, to refuse an offer; a refusal; to deny a request; a denial. Nixy is a variant. 1945 in Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (1960) 356/1 The blue-penciler nixed the story. 1961 New Left Rev. July/Aug. 53/1 Every time somebody nixes..paid work to fulfil an unpaid commitment..my faith..is..restored. 1969 R. V. Beste Next Time I'll Pay ii. 22 He could have been more explicit... If he had been his holiday would have been nixed, that was for sure. 1973 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 22 Aug. 11/1 (heading) Nude bathing nixed. 1974 Maclean's Mag. Dec. 19/1 It was the inner voice that nixed the deal—the savings contract that the salesman was pushing ensured that I wouldn't break even until after the first eight years. |
2. nix out (on): U.S. slang in various senses (see quots.).
| 1940 Music Makers May 37/3 Nix out, to eliminate, get rid of. Ex. ‘I nixed that chick out last week’. ‘I nixed my garments’ (undressed). 1945 L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 29/2 Nix out, to erase. 1946 Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues (1957) 84 The owner nixed big crowds out. 1969 Nix out on [see fade n.1]. 1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 85 Nix out, to throw away. |