nickel
A coin worth five cents in the United States and Canada. / A silvery-white metallic element with atomic number 28. / To plate a metal object with a thin layer of nickel.
Transitive Verb[C/U] Both
pl: nickelspast: nickeledpp: nickeleding: nickeling
The word carries a strong association with frugality or small amounts of money, often evoking a sense of modest, everyday transactions. It is frequently used in idioms to describe things of very little value or the act of being overly cautious with spending.
Countable when referring to the individual five-cent coins in a jar. Uncountable when referring to the chemical element as a raw bulk material.