English
ninja
see also: NINJA
Pronunciation
  • (British, America) IPA: /ˈnɪndʒə/
Noun

ninja (plural ninja)

  1. (martial arts) A person trained in ninjutsu, especially (historical) one used for espionage, assassination, and other tasks requiring stealth during Japan's shogunate period.
    • 1964, Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice, p. 126:
      The men... are now learning to be ninja or ‘stealers-in’.
    • 2000 October 15, Denver Post, p. 10:
      Spies prowled Japan from the seventh century, but the secretive ninja left few written records.
  2. (figurative) A person considered similarly skillful to the historical ninja, especially in covert or stealthy operation.
    • 1972 September 11, Newsweek, Int'l ed., p. 28:
      For months the Japanese spoke of national-security adviser Henry Kissinger as a ninja''—the magician of Japanese legends who performs supernatural acts and practices sorcery.
    • 1987 August 3, Business Week, p. 40:
      Other bankers are dubbing themselves ninja, modern-day descendants of the superspies of 17th century samurai houses.
    • 1991 August 4, The Guardian, p. 13:
      Young banking and securities firms executives (nicknamed the ninja...) are especially assigned to cultivate relations with the finance ministry. Only verbal instructions are ever given to the ninja.
  3. (figurative) A person considered to look like the historical ninja in some way, including (Mongolia, historical slang) amateur private miners.
    • 1998 December 28, Chicago Tribune, p. 1:
      He immediately suspected they were ninjas because, he said, they were dressed in black and wore masks, trademarks of the mysterious assassins who have been sowing terror across East Java in recent months.
    • 2003 February 21, Business Times:
      Yen buyers were more subdued... fearing the Bank of Japan's new strategy of covert intervention to buy U.S. dollars through agent banks—described by some as the central bank's ninjas or secret agents.
    • 2007 October 10, Jonathan Watts, "Prospectors and 'Ninja' Miners Flood to East's El Dorado" ↗, The Guardian:
      Many were former nomads, but as the gold rush gathered pace, students, vets and taxi drivers from Ulan Bator joined the ninjas, not just in Ogoomor but in other gold towns across the country.
  4. (Juggalo slang) Synonym of man#English|man as a friendly term of address.
    What up, my ninja!
Synonyms Related terms Translations Adjective

ninja (not comparable)

  1. Of or related to ninjas in their various senses.
    • 1966 October, Black Belt, p. 5:
      The July 1966 issue had a cartoon concerning a Ninja dojo.
    • 1971 May, Black Belt, p. 40:
      One of the most controversial characters in Japan's current ninja boom is a stout but surprisingly agile man in his mid-forties named Norihiro Iga-Hakuyusai.
    • 1995 August 28, Time, p. 36:
      ...Federal agents in body armor and black ninja uniforms...
    • 2002 August 31, The Guardian, p. 2:
      As they broke camp, the teenage son practised his Ninja moves with a tentpole.
Verb

ninja (ninjas, present participle ninjaing; past and past participle ninjaed)

  1. (ambitransitive) To act or move like a ninja, particularly with regard to a combination of speed, power, and stealth.
    • 1992, Iain Banks, Crow Road, p. 160:
      I leapt up, ninja'd over to Gav's bed and wheeched the duvet off.
    • 1996 April 23, Rocky Mountain News, p. 5:
      In our dark house we were ninja-ing around with water guns.
    • 2002 August 29, Los Angeles Times, p. 48:
      I ninja'd my way into Kung Fu Records to hang out with those merry pranksters the Vandals.
  2. (Internet, slang) Synonym of preempt#English|preempt: to supersede and invalidate a response by posting immediately before it.
    When I hit post, I saw that Blue Emu had ninja'd me, so I just deleted my reply.
  3. (online gaming slang) To claim an item through abuse of game mechanics.
    That damn warrior ninja'd an epic-quality wand even though he can't even use it!
NINJA
Adjective

ninja (not comparable)

  1. (finance) Initialism of no income, no job or assets, describing credit characteristics of a borrower, usually of a residential mortgage.


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