<B>nuke, </B>noun, verb, <B>nuked,</B> <B>nuking.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an atomic nucleus. <BR> <I>Ex. Stage I involves the firing of an inner "nuke" ... of U-235 or plutonium (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=nuclear weapon.</B> <DD><B> 3. </B>a nuclear-powered electrical generating station. <BR> <I>Ex. According to the Hudson River Fishermen's Association, the nuke was directly responsible for the death of between 310,000 and 475,000 fish in a six-week period (Time).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to attack with nuclear weapons. <BR> <I>Ex. "If we felt hemmed in, we would have a right-wing government that ... would say, 'We have to get ready to nuke 'em to kingdom come and stand guard'" (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to destroy. <BR> <I>Ex. That play, too, was quickly nuked by poor ticket sales (Dan Hulbert).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(U.S. Slang.) to microwave. <BR> <I>Ex. Nothing that can't be set to rights by nuking a little frozen za (Fairfax Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="nul">
<B>N.U.L.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> National Urban League. </DL>
<A NAME="null">
<B>null, </B>adjective, noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>not binding, especially under law; of no effect; as if not existing. <BR> <I>Ex. A promise obtained by force is legally null.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of no value; unimportant; useless; meaningless; empty; valueless. <BR> <I>Ex. Here the principle of contribution ... is reprobated as null, and destructive to equality (Edmund Burke).</I> (SYN) nugatory. <DD><B> 3. </B>not any; nothing; zero. <BR> <I>Ex. The effect was small or null.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>nothing; zero: <DD><B> 2. </B>loss of a radio signal or an electric current; zero transmission or reception. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to nullify; cancel. <BR> <I>Ex. to null a signal.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>null and void,</B> </I>without force or effect, especially legally; not binding; worthless. <BR> <I>Ex. That all acts done by the authority of the usurper Harold were held to be null and void (Edward A. Freeman).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="nullah">
<B>nullah, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a watercourse in India, especially one which is dry except after a heavy rain. </DL>
<A NAME="nullanulla">
<B>nulla-nulla, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a club used as a weapon by Australian aborigines. </DL>
<A NAME="nullification">
<B>nullification, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of making null. <BR> <I>Ex. What labor really wants is nullification of right-to-work laws now in effect in eighteen states (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of being nullified. <BR> <I>Ex. the nullification of a treaty.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>Often, <B>Nullification.</B> (U.S.) an action taken by a state to nullify or declare unconstitutional a Federal law or judicial decision and prevent its enforcement within the state's boundaries. </DL>
<A NAME="nullificationist">
<B>nullificationist</B> or <B>Nullificationist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a supporter or advocate of the right of states to nullify Federal laws. </DL>
<A NAME="nullifier">
<B>nullifier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who nullifies. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) a nullificationist. </DL>
<A NAME="nullify">
<B>nullify, </B>transitive verb, <B>-fied,</B> <B>-fying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to make not binding, especially legally; render void. <BR> <I>Ex. to nullify a treaty or a law.</I> (SYN) annul, repeal. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make of no effect; destroy; cancel; wipe out. <BR> <I>Ex. The difficulties of the plan nullify its advantages.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="nullipara">
<B>nullipara, </B>noun, pl. <B>-arae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a woman who has never borne a child. </DL>
<A NAME="nulliparous">
<B>nulliparous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having never borne a child. <BR> <I>Ex. a nulliparous woman.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="nullipennate">
<B>nullipennate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having no light feathers, as the penguin. </DL>
<A NAME="nullipore">
<B>nullipore, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any of various marine red algae having the power of secreting lime, such as a coralline. </DL>
<A NAME="nullity">
<B>nullity, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>futility; nothingness. <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of being legally null and void; invalidity. <DD><B> 3. </B>a mere nothing; nobody; nonentity. <BR> <I>Ex. The king's power in some European countries is practically a nullity.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>something that is null, such as a nullified law or agreement. <BR> <I>Ex. The Declaration was, in the eye of the law, a nullity (Macaulay).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="nullset">
<B>null set,</B> <B>=empty set.</B></DL>
<A NAME="num">
<B>num.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>number or numbers. <DD><B> 2. </B>numeral or numerals. </DL>
<A NAME="num">
<B>Num.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> Numbers (book of the Old Testament). </DL>
<A NAME="numb">
<B>numb, </B>adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> having lost the power of feeling or moving. <BR> <I>Ex. My fingers are numb with cold.</I> (SYN) deadened, insensible, benumbed. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make numb. <BR> <I>Ex. arms and ankles, ... numbed and stiff with ... binding (Daniel Defoe).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to dull the feelings of. <BR> <I>Ex. The old lady was numbed with grief when her bird died.</I> adv. <B>numbly.</B> noun <B>numbness.</B> </DL>
<B>number, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the amount of units; count or sum of a group of things or persons; total. <BR> <I>Ex. The number of your fingers is ten. The number of boys in our class is twenty.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>a word that tells exactly how many. Two, fourteen, twenty-six are cardinal numbers; second, fourteenth, twenty-sixth are ordinal numbers. <DD><B> b. </B>a figure or mark that stands for a number; numeral. 2, 7, and 9 are numbers. (Abbr:) no. <DD><B> 3. </B>a quantity, especially a rather large quantity. <BR> <I>Ex. a number of reasons. We saw a number of birds. A large number cannot read.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a collection or company. <BR> <I>Ex. the number of saints. Two more are still required to make up the number.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>one of a numbered series, often a particular numeral identifying a person or thing. <BR> <I>Ex. an apartment number, a license number, a telephone number.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>a single part of a program. <DD><B> 7. </B>a song or other piece of music. <BR> <I>Ex. She sings many old numbers.</I> <DD><B> 8a. </B>a single issue of a magazine. <BR> <I>Ex. the latest number of the "Saturday Review." The May number has an unusually good story.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a single part of a book published in parts. <DD><B> 9. </B>(Informal.) any thing or person viewed apart or thought of as standing apart from a collection or company. <BR> <I>Ex. That dress is the most fashionable number in the store. He's a shrewd number, isn't he?</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>(Grammar.) a word form or ending which shows one or more is meant. <I>Boy, ox,</I> and <I>this</I> are in the singular number; <I>boys, oxen,</I> and <I>these</I> are in the plural number. <DD><B> 11. </B>regularity of beat or measure in verse or music; rhythm. <BR> <I>Ex. instrumental sounds in full harmonic number joined (Milton).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to give a number to; mark with a number; distinguish with a number. <BR> <I>Ex. The pages of this book are numbered.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to be able to show; have; contain. <BR> <I>Ex. This city numbers a million inhabitants.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to be or amount to a given number; equal. <BR> <I>Ex. The states of the Union number 50. The candidate's plurality numbered 5,000 votes.</I> (SYN) equal. <DD><B> 4. </B>to reckon as one of a class or collection; classify. <BR> <I>Ex. I number you among my best friends.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to fix the number of; limit. <BR> <I>Ex. That old man's years are numbered.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>to live or have lived (so many years). <BR> <I>Ex. The brave soldier had already numbered, nearly or quite, his threescore years and ten (Hawthorne).</I> <DD><B> 7a. </B>to find out the number of; count. <BR> <I>Ex. The business of the poet ... is to examine, not the individual, but the species ... he does not number the streaks of the tulip (Samuel Johnson).</I> (SYN) enumerate. <DD><B> b. </B>(Archaic.) to allot; apportion. <BR> <I>Ex. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psalm 90:12).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>(Obsolete.) to levy (a number of, as soldiers). <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to make a count. <BR> <I>Ex. Many of us can number automatically.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to be numbered or included with. <BR> <I>Ex. Tho' thou numberest with the followers of one who cried "leave all and follow me" (Tennyson).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>beyond number,</B> </I>too many to count. <BR> <I>Ex. There were people beyond number at the circus.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>do a number on,</B> (U.S. Slang.) <DD><B> a. </B>to make fun of. </I> <I>Ex. Fearless Johnny Carson ... did a number on his new boss, NBC president Fred Silverman ... with this line: "Freddy Silverman has just canceled his mother" (New York Post).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to mislead; deceive. <BR> <I>Ex. The wife was shaken. "If I'm doing a number on the kid, I want to know about it" (Janet Malcolm).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>numbers,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>arithmetic. </I> <I>Ex. He is very clever at numbers.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>many. <BR> <I>Ex. There were numbers who stayed out of school that day.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>being greater or more. <BR> <I>Ex. to win a battle by force of numbers.</I> <DD><B> d. </B>poetry; lines of verse. <BR> <I>Ex. I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came (Alexander Pope).</I> <DD><B> e. </B>groups of musical notes or measures. <BR> <I>Ex. Harp of the North! that ... down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung (Scott).</I> <DD><B> f. </B>(U.S.) <B>=numbers game.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>one's number is up,</B> </I>(Informal.) one is doomed. <BR> <I>Ex. When the bandits ambushed the stagecoach, the driver was sure that his number was up.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>without number,</B> </I>too many to be counted. <BR> <I>Ex. stars without number.</I> noun <B>numberer.</B> </DL>