nuke

See also: ñuke

English
WOTD – 16 June 2019

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Clipping of nuc(lear weapon).[1] The verb is derived from the noun.[2]

Noun

nuke (plural nukes)

  1. (chiefly US, colloquial) A nuclear weapon.
  2. (chiefly US, colloquial, by extension) Something that destroys or negates, especially on a catastrophic scale.
  3. (chiefly US, nautical, colloquial) A vessel such as a ship or submarine running on nuclear power.
  4. (chiefly US, colloquial) A nuclear power station.
  5. (chiefly US, colloquial) A microwave oven.
    Just put it in the nuke for two minutes and it will be ready to eat.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

nuke (third-person singular simple present nukes, present participle nuking, simple past and past participle nuked)

  1. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To use a nuclear weapon on a target.
    If a nuclear war ever breaks out, military facilities are likely to be nuked first.
  2. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial, figuratively) To destroy or erase completely.
    Synonyms: annihilate, devastate, obliterate; see also Thesaurus:destroy
    To try to hide his posting history on Usenet, he had his posts nuked from the Google archives.
  3. (transitive, Internet slang, by extension) To carry out a denial-of-service attack against (an IRC user).
  4. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To expose to some form of radiation.
  5. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To cook in a microwave oven.
    I’ll nuke some pizza for dinner.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of nuc(leus).

Noun

nuke (plural nukes)

  1. Alternative spelling of nuc (“nucleus colony of bees”)

References
  1. Compare “nuke, n.2 and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2003; “nuke” (US) / “nuke” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.
  2. “nuke, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2003.

Further reading

Anagrams
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