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nef

American  
[nef] / nɛf /

noun

  1. a silver or gold table furnishing in the form of a ship, either for holding various utensils or for ornament.


Etymology

Origin of nef

1680–90; < French: ship < Latin nāvis. See nave

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Even at royal feasts, the only ornament on the table was a nef, a vessel made to hold salt.

From Slate • May 5, 2015

A live vaccine made from HIV, he maintains, can be made safer by removing not just the nef gene but several others as well.

From Time Magazine Archive

In fact, the virus is missing so much of this particular gene--known as nef, for negative factor--that it is hard to imagine how the gene could perform any useful function.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ronald Desrosiers at the New England Regional Primate Research Center has demonstrated that when the nef gene is removed from SIV, the virus no longer has the power to make monkeys sick.

From Time Magazine Archive

One is recorded as having been named the "Tyger," while a nef belonging to the Duke of Orleans was called the "Porquepy," meaning porcupine.

From Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages A Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance by Addison, Julia de Wolf Gibbs