nice ● adj. 1 pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory ► (of a person) good natured; kind. 2 fine or subtle. ► requiring careful attention. 3 archaic fastidious.
- PHRASES nice and satisfactory in terms of the quality described. nice one informal expressing approval.
- DERIVATIVES nicely adv. niceness n.
- ORIGIN ME (orig. meaning 'stupid', also 'coy, reserved', hence 'fine, subtle'): from OFr., from L. nescius 'ignorant', from nescire 'not know'.
crap1 vulgar slang ● n. 1 nonsense; rubbish. 2 excrement. ► an act of defecation. v. (crapped, crapping) defecate. ● adj. extremely poor in quality.
- DERIVATIVES crappy adj.
- ORIGIN ME, in sense 'chaff': rel. to Du. krappe, from krappen 'pluck or cut off', and perh. also to OFr. crappe 'siftings', Anglo-Latin crappa 'chaff'.
crap2 N.Amer. ● n. a losing throw in craps. ● v. (crap out) informal make a losing throw at craps. ► give up; fail.
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