Meaning & use
Old Nick
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Meaning
proper nounproperinformalold-fashioned
An informal old-fashioned name for the Devil, used especially in jokes or stories.
Grammar: Used as a name, so it takes no article and is normally written with capital letters.
My grandfather used to say that Old Nick himself couldn't have made a storm like that.
In the old story, the farmer makes a deal with Old Nick and lives to regret it.
Common combinations
- Old Nick himself
- The old sailor swore it was Old Nick himself who dragged the boat under.
- make a deal with Old Nick
- In the legend, she makes a deal with Old Nick to save her brother.
- Old Nick take it
- 'Old Nick take it!' he shouted when the cart lost a wheel.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Satan
- Satan is the serious, mainly religious name, while Old Nick sounds playful and belongs to older or humorous writing.
- the Devil
- The Devil is the ordinary neutral term; Old Nick is a nickname you would use in a joke or a folk tale.
Commonly confused: Old Nick or Nick?
Old Nick vs Nick
Nick is just a man's name or a short form of Nicholas; Old Nick is the fixed nickname for the Devil.
Practice
Which sentence uses Old Nick in a natural way?
Choose one answer.
Old Nick is an old-fashioned, informal nickname for the Devil, so it fits a warning about evil in a traditional setting. The other options treat it as an ordinary person's name, which it is not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Old Nick”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.