NICKNAME
nickname, moniker, cognomen, sobriquet, soubriquet, byname
(noun) a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a personâs given name); âJoeâs mother would not use his nickname and always called him Josephâ; âHenryâs nickname was Slimâ
nickname
(noun) a descriptive name for a place or thing; âthe nickname for the U.S. Constitution is âOld Ironsidesââ
dub, nickname
(verb) give a nickname to
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
nickname (plural nicknames)
A familiar, invented given name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing.
A kind of byname that describes a person by a characteristic of that person.
Synonyms
• (familiar invented given name): handle, hypocoristic, moniker, nick, sobriquet, pet name
• (byname): antonomasia, byname, cognomen
Verb
nickname (third-person singular simple present nicknames, present participle nicknaming, simple past and past participle nicknamed)
(transitive) To give a nickname to (a person or thing).
Source: Wiktionary
Nick"name`, n. Etym: [OE. ekename surname, hence, a nickname, an
ekename being understood as a nekename, influenced also by E. nick,
v. See Eke, and Name.]
Definition: A name given in contempt, derision, or sportive familiarity; a
familiar or an opprobrious appellation.
Nick"name`, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nicknamed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Nicknaming.]
Definition: To give a nickname to; to call by a nickname.
You nickname virtue; vice you should have spoke. Shak.
I altogether disclaim what has been nicknamed the doctrine of
finality. Macaulay.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition