961
numeratio
nug·get /'nʌɡɪt/ n [(of)] a small rough lump of a precious metal, found in the earth: a gold nugget | (fig.) nuggets of information/wisdom
nui·sance /'nju:səns||'nu:-/ n 1 a person, thing, or situation that causes annoyance or inconvenience: Sit down, and stop being a nuisance/making a nuisance of yourself. | What a nuisance! I've forgotten my ticket. | It was a nuisance having to go back home to get my ticket. 2 law the use of a place or property in a way that causes public annoyance (especially in the phrase Commit no nuisance on a notice in a public place)
'nuisance ,value n [S;U] the quality of being valuable as a cause of trouble and inconvenience to one's opponents: A small political group may not be able to defeat the government, but it may still have some/a certain nuisance value.
NUJ, the /ˌen ju: 'dʒeɪ/ abbrev. for the National Union of Journalists; the professional TRADE UNION in the UK for people working in newspapers, magazines, and book production
nuke¹ /nju:k||nu:k/ v [T] infml 1 to attack with NUCLEAR weapons 2 to cook food in a MICROWAVE: Just nuke it for 20 seconds.
nuke² n infml a NUCLEAR weapon
null /nʌl/ adj [A no comp.] tech of, being, or concerning zero: a null result (=one giving the answer 0) | a null set/sequence
null and 'void adj [F] fml or law having no legal force; INVALID: The court declared the contract null and void.
nul·li·fy /'nʌlɪfaɪ/ v [T] fml or law 1 to cause or declare to have no legal force: a claim nullified by the court 2 to cause to have no effect or value; NEGATE: a rise in prices nullifying a rise in wages —fication /ˌnʌlɪfɪ'keɪʃən/ n [U]
nul·li·ty /'nʌlɪti/ n fml or law 1 [U] (especially of a marriage) the state of being null and void in law: a decree of nullity → see also ANNUL 2 [U] nothingness: a feeling of the nullity of life 3 [C] rare a NONENTITY
null 'set also empty set n tech (in MATHEMATICS) a SET with no members, usually written { }
NUM, the /ˌen ju: 'em/ abbrev. for the National Union of Mineworkers; a TRADE UNION in the UK for MINERS and other people who work in the MINING industry
numb¹ /nʌm/ adj [(with)] (of part of the body) unable to feel anything: My hands are numb with (=because of) cold. | The anaesthetic made my arm go numb. | (fig.) numb with shock/fear —ly adv —ness n [U]
numb² v [T often pass.] to cause to feel nothing or no pain; make numb: fingers numbed with cold | the numbing effect of the drug | He was numbed by his wife's death.
num·ber¹ /'nʌmbər/ n 1 [C] (a written sign representing) a member of the system used in counting and measuring: 1, 2, and 3 are numbers. | Choose any number between one and ten. | What is your phone number? | Six is my lucky number. → see also CARDINAL NUMBER, ORDINAL NUMBER 2 [C] (written abbrev. No., or no., or (especially AmE) the symbol #) a number used to show the position of something in an ordered set or list: a number 9 (=size 9) shoe | We live at no. 107 Church Street. (=our house has the number 107) | question number four → see also NUMBER ONE, BOX NUMBER, E NUMBER 3 [C(of;U)] also numbers pl. — (a) quantity or amount: Large numbers of/A large number of vehicles had to be abandoned because of the heavy snow. | This killing brings the number of deaths this year to 25. | The governing party, though few in number, held all the power. | a small number of/small numbers of visitors | A number of (=several) well-qualified people have recently left the company. | efforts to reduce the number(s) of people in prison | I've told you any number of times (=very often) to shut the door. | grains of sand beyond number (=too many to count) 4 [S] a group of people: The whole school went on a trip to France, but only three of our number could speak French. 5 [C] BrE || issue AmE a (copy of a) magazine printed at a particular time; ISSUE: the latest number of 'Vogue' magazine | back (=past) numbers of 'Punch' 6 [C] a piece of music (especially popular music or JAZZ), usually forming part of a longer performance: She sang several numbers from her latest album. 7 [C usually sing.] infml a piece of clothing, especially a woman's dress: a chic little black number for evening wear 8 [C usually sing.] infml any person, object, situation etc of the stated type: That new job of hers is a real
cushy number. (=something very easy) | That new waitress sure is a hot number. (=very attractive) 9 [U] tech change in the form of words, especially (in English) of nouns and verbs, depending on whether one or more than one thing is talked about: 'Horses' is plural in number, 'horse' is singular. 10 have someone's number infml to have knowledge about someone, especially when useful in annoying or defeating them: Our team couldn't do anything right; the opposing team had their number. 11 someone's number is up/has come up infml it is someone's turn, especially to suffer, be punished etc → see also NUMBERS, OPPOSITE NUMBER
NOTE Usually plural nouns after a number take a plural verb: 73 dogs/people are coming but if you are giving an opinion about the size of the number itself, use a singular verb. Compare 25 bottles of wine were drunk at the office party and £25 pounds is too much to pay. → see also AMOUNT (USAGE)
number² v 1 [T] to give a number to: They forgot to number the pages. | All seats in the theatre are numbered. | [+obj+n] Number the questions (from) 1 to 10. | a numbering system 2 [I+prep/L+n] to reach as a total; be in number: The people at the meeting numbered several thousand/numbered in the thousands. 3 [I;T(among, as, with)] fml to include or be included as one of a particular group: He numbers/is numbered among the best modern writers. | I'm glad to number her with my friends/as a friend. 4 [T] poet to find the number of; count: Who can number the stars? → see also his/her/its days are numbered (DAYS¹)
number off BrE || count off AmE — phr v [I] (in military use) to call out one's number when one's turn comes: The soldiers numbered off from left to right.
Number 11 /ˌnʌmbər ɪ'levən/ → see NO. 11
Number 10 /ˌnʌmbə 'tenl̩-bər-/ → see NO. 10
'number ,cruncher n infml a person or machine that works with numbers, such as an ACCOUNTANT, ECONOMIST, or STATISTICIAN
'number ,crunching n [U] the process of working with numbers and calculating many results: Financial analysts spend their days number crunching. —number-crunching adj: number-crunching computers used by statisticians
,Number E'leven, Number 11 → see NO. 11
num·ber·less /'nʌmbələs||-bər-/ adj especially lit too many to count: numberless possibilities
,number 'one n [U] 1 infml oneself and no one else: She only ever thinks of number one. (=herself) 2 the most important person or thing: George is number one in this organization and I'm his number two. (=second in command) | Solving this problem is our number one priority. | [after n] public enemy number one
num·ber·plate /'nʌmbəpleɪt||-ər-/ BrE || license plate AmE || registration plate AustrE, NZE — n either of the signs on a vehicle (usually at the front and back ends), showing its REGISTRATION NUMBER → see note at LICENSE PLATE and see picture at CAR
num·bers /'nʌmbəz||-ərz/ n 1 [P;U] the study of ARITHMETIC 2 [U] the state of having more supporters, soldiers etc than an opponent (especially in the phrases by sheer force/weight of numbers): Our small army was defeated by sheer weight of numbers. 3 [the+S] (in the US) a usually ILLEGAL game in which people risk money on the appearance of a combination of numbers in a newspaper: to play the numbers | the numbers game
,Number 'Ten, Number 10 → see NO. 10
numb·skull /'nʌmskʌl/ n a NUMSKULL
nu·me·ral /'nju:mərəl||'nu:-/ n a sign that represents a number → see also ARABIC NUMERAL, ROMAN NUMERAL —numeral adj
nu·me·rate /'nju:mərət||'nu:-/ adj especially BrE having a general understanding of calculations with numbers; able to do ARITHMETIC and MATHEMATICS → opposite INNUMERATE; compare LITERATE —racy n [U]
nu·me·ra·tion /ˌnju:mə'reɪʃən||ˌnu:-/ n [C;U] tech a system or the process of counting