A black person; a person of black African descent. • A person of black African descent who behaves badly or unconventionally (whether the speaker approves or disapproves). • A member of any typically dark-skinned people (now especially in combinations like prairie nigger or sand nigger). • A friend, particularly a fellow black person (often as an informal term of address). • A person of any kind (particularly as a term of abuse). • A member of a group that is oppressed or marginalized in the manner of black people. • Any of various dark animals: • Any member of species Girella tricuspidata (luderick). • A dark brown nymphalid butterfly, Orsotriaena medus, of south Asia, southeast Asia, and Australia. • A kind of sea cucumber, Holothuria forskali, the cotton-spinner. • The larva of the turnip sawfly, an agricultural pest. • An impurity in the covering of an electrical conductor which serves to make a partial short circuit, and thus becomes sufficiently heated to burn and destroy the insulation. • A strong iron-bound timber with sharp teeth or spikes protruding from its front face, forming part of the machinery of a sawmill, and used in canting logs, etc. • A steam-capstan on some Mississippi river boats, used to haul the boat over bars and snags by a rope fastened to a tree on the bank. • A black screen used in conjunction with the camera to block light or produce special lighting effects.