"not in any situation or state; in no place," Old English nahwær "nowhere, not at all;" see no + where. Colloquial nowheres, with adverbial genitive, is by 1803. As a noun, "non-existent place," 1831; "remote or inaccessible place," 1908. Hence road to nowhere (1916); middle of nowhere (1891). Similar constructions were attempted with nowhat ("not at all," 1650s) and nowhen ("at no time, never," 1764), but they failed to take hold and remain nonce words. Middle English also had an adverb never-where (early 14c.).

"toward no place, in no direction," Middle English no whither, no-whider, from Old English nahwiðer, nahwider; see no + whither.

"unwholesome, harmful," c. 1500, noxius, from Latin noxius "hurtful, injurious," from noxa "injury, hurt, damage entailing liability" (related to nocere "to hurt," and to nex "slaughter"), from PIE *noks-, from root *nek- (1) "death." Related: Noxiously; noxiousness.

mid-15c., noselle "socket on a candlestick," diminutive of nose (n.); with -el (3). Meaning "small spout" is attested by 1680s.

by 1717, in algebra textbooks, in phrase to the nth, a mathematical term indicating an indefinite number, in which n is an abbreviation for (whole) number (n.). Figurative (non-mathematical) use is by 1852.

"slight or delicate degree of difference in expression, feeling, opinion, etc.," 1781, from French nuance "slight difference, shade of color" (17c.), from nuer "to shade," from nue "cloud," from Gallo-Roman *nuba, from Latin nubes "a cloud, mist, vapor," from PIE *sneudh- "fog" (source also of Avestan snaoda "clouds," Latin obnubere "to veil," Welsh nudd "fog," Greek nython, in Hesychius "dark, dusky").

According to Klein, the French secondary sense is a reference to "the different colors of the clouds." In reference to color or tone, "a slight variation in shade," by 1852; of music, by 1841 as a French term in English.

"to give nuances to," 1886, from nuance (n.). Related: Nuanced.

"having or showing delicate gradations in tone, etc.," 1896, past-participle adjective from the verb nuance (q.v.).

The new co-operative history of English literature which the University of Cambridge is now publishing prints "genre" without italics. And it even permits one contributor—and a contributor who is discussing Shakespeare!—to say that something is delicately "nuanced." Is there now an English verb "to nuance"? It is terrible to think of the bad language the scholars of the venerable English university might have used if "nuanced" had been first discovered in the text of an American author. [Scribner's Magazine," January 1911]

"knob, lump, bump, protuberance," 1590s, variant of dialectal knub, which is probably a variant of knob. Figurative meaning "point, gist" is attested by 1834.

"stunted ear of corn," 1690s, American English colloquial diminutive of nub. General sense of "small piece" is from 1857.