nickel
1. Any cent, 1857-64, of the 88% copper, 12% nickel alloy then official. 2. Any 5 cent piece, 1866- , of the legal cupro-nickel alloy. 3. Popular solecism for that allow. 4. The element (magnetic when pure); from the old German name for its ore, Kupfer-Nickel, 'devil's copper,' requiring the very fires of hell to melt, and notorious for causing allergies.
Source: Breen Encyclopedia