nugger

English

Watercolor by Edward Lear of Egyptian dahabeeyas, gyassis, and nuggers. The nuggers are the boats with sails about the same width as the boat.

Etymology 1

Noun

nugger (plural nuggers)

1. An Egyptian sailing boat with a square sail that is tilted at an angle to the mast.
   • 1885, Henry Brackenbury, quoting Hassein Ismain, The River Column: A Narrative of the Advance of the River Column of the Nile Expeditionary Force, and Its Return Down the Rapids, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 228:

     Two other steamers accompanied us to beyond Berber, and four nuggers sailed with us, which were towed as far as Berber by the two steamers.

   • 1925, Horace Smith-Dorrien, Memories of Forty-Eight Years’ Service, London: John Murray, […], pages 62–63:

     My orders were to endeavour to overtake the enemy, to co-operate with the gunboat Lotus in catching the large sailing nuggers, nine of which were known to be with the Arabs carrying their food supplies; […]

   • 1931, Bernard M[eredith] Allen, Gordon and the Sudan, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, […], pages 50–51:

     On July 15 he tested the western or steeper channel of the Bedden rapids by sending down three nuggers which were loaded so as to have rather a deeper draught than the steamer.

Etymology 2

Modification of nugget with -er.

Noun

nugger (plural nuggers)

1. Informal/humorous form of nugget.
   • 2014, Alistair McDowall, Pomona, Methuen Drama, published 2020, →ISBN:

     D’ywan a chicken nugger? […] Like these chicken nuggers, yeah? I fucking love ’em. I fucking love chicken nuggers. I eat ’em every night. I drive round this fucking ring road all night, I take my meetings in my car, I solve problems, I do business, I eat nuggers. McDonald’s chicken nuggers. McNuggers. They’re the best – The batter? No other nugger compares. Accept no substitutes. But maybe one day I’m thinking, hey, how do they make the nuggers?

   • 2018 March 13, Syd Robinson, “21 Dog Birthday Pawties That, Quite Honestly, Deserved Media Coverage”, in BuzzFeed‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 March 2018:

     MY BIRTHDAY WISH FOR THEO IS ALL OF THE CHIMKEN NUGGERS!!!!!!!!

   • 2019 May, Sophia Romanos, “Uni Food”, in Debate, number 5, Auckland University of Technology Student Association, page 13:

     If these nuggers and chips aren’t fine dining I don’t know what is.

   • 2019 June 18, Charlotte Karp, “Love at first bite! Besotted couple peel McDonald's chicken nuggets for each other before dipping them in sauce and eating them”, in Daily Mail‎^[2], archived from the original on 22 May 2023:

     'The only reason one should peel a nugger is for a doggo who gets the runny poops from not being able to tolerate the coating,' added a different user.

   • 2020, Paul Richardson, Taylah’s Got Talent, →ISBN:

     Her mother said, “Maybe you can have ‘Muck Donnas’, or we could have fish and chips.” Krissy shook her head, “Nah. We no have fwishenchit. We have Kay Eff See nuggers?”

   • 2020, Kelly Conaboy, The Particulars of Peter: Dance Lessons, DNA Tests, and Other Excuses to Hang Out with My Perfect Dog, Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN:

     He enjoys: a good scritch scratch, cold water, squishy balls, and—most importantly—chimkin nuggers!

Further reading

• “Chicken Nugger”, in Know Your Meme, launched 2007