nan

n. [ prob. from babytalk. ] Grandmother. [ PJC ]

n. [ Native name. ] (Zool.) An African carnivore (Nandinia binotata), allied to the civets. It is spotted with black. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Braz. nhandu or yandu. ] (Zool.) Any one of three species of South American ostriches of the genera Rhea and Pterocnemia, especially the smallest, Pterocnemia pennata (formerly Rhea Americana), called also the common rhea. They are tall fast-running flightless birds similar to ostriches but three-toed, found from Peru to the Straits of Magellan. See Rhea. [ Written also nandow. ] [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Gr. na^nos + -ism: cf. F. nanisme. ] The condition of being abnormally small in stature; dwarfism; dwarfishness; -- opposed to gigantism. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ So called from its being originally manufactured at Nankin (Nanjing), in China. ] [ Written also nankin. ] 1. A species of cloth, of a firm texture, originally brought from China, made of a species of cotton (Gossypium religiosum) that is naturally of a brownish yellow color quite indestructible and permanent. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An imitation of this cloth by artificial coloring. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. Trousers made of nankeen. Ld. Lytton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nankeen bird (Zool.), the Australian night heron (Nycticorax Caledonicus); -- called also quaker. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. a former capital of China. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. The wife of Balder. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Sumerian mythology) The god of the moon; counterpart of the Akkadian Sin. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. nannies. 1. a caretaker for a child; a child's nurse; a nursemaid. [ PJC ]

2. Grandmother; -- a child's word, used especially as a form of address. See also nana. [ PJC ]