nugget

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from a rebracketed alteration of an ingot as a ni(n)got. Alternatively, likely a diminutive of dialectal nug (“lump, block”) + -et.

noun

1. (countable) A small, compact chunk or clump.
   a gold nugget
   Rough men brought pickle bottles full of nuggets. Mysterious dirty-looking calico bags were opened, disclosing small quantities of water-worn flaky gold, which had been washed out of the beds of rivers with a cradle. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 146
2. (countable) A chicken nugget.
   By now, we hope you have said “no” to processed nuggets and fingers. Instead, how about taking some real chicken, tossing it with real eggs, a little tangy mustard, and a crunchy quinoa coating? 2014, Laurie David, The Family Cooks
3. (countable) A tidbit of something valuable.
   a nugget of wisdom
   a nugget of truth
   As he has in superb works like “The Source” (based on the Afghanistan war logs leaked by Chelsea Manning) and “Sound From the Bench” (which set excerpts from Supreme Court proceedings), Hearne takes these found-text nuggets and gives them music that moves from lushly meditative to frenetic and obsessively repetitive […] 2023-07-10, Zachary Woolfe, “Review: Ted Hearne’s Sweet, Sad American Elegy”, in The New York Times
4. (countable) A small piece of tasty food, a tidbit.
5. (uncountable) A type of boot polish.
6. (countable) A bud from the Cannabis sativa plant, especially one that is potent.
7. (countable, slang) An inexperienced, newly trained fighter pilot.
   Jack stifled a smirk at the ensign's expressionless non-reaction. He'd been a nugget himself once, the new guy fresh from training. 2009, Nick Scipio, Nereids
8. (computing theory) A partial description gleaned from data mining.
   We have previously said that the heuristic algorithms produce good nuggets for most classes and most λ values […] 2002, Data Mining: A Heuristic Approach, (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 93
9. (slang, countable) A person with no arms or legs; a basket case.