Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also nicks) worthless, useless or damaged.

1846		Swell’s Night Guide 48: Rutty is a tidy workman, but as his nibs was nicks at a dovetail, the donna cracked a wid to him.
1914		M. Glass Potash and Perlmutter 16: His Arverne Sacques is all right, Barney, but the rest is nix.
1929		M. Bodenheim Sixty Seconds 104: When it comes to memory, Goosta, you’re nix as a traveling companion.
1951		Green & Laurie Show Biz from Vaude to Video 570: Nix – no, veto, thumbs-down.

2. no, none, negligible.

1902		‘Billy Burgundy’ Toothsome Tales Told in Sl. 62: Liabilities, nix.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 84: No man can reasonably expect t’ live ther life iv er hindependent gent on er nix income.
1910		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Picture-Book Christmas’ Sporting Times 24 Dec. 1/3: For the quids I am holding at present are ‘nix’.
1925		S. Lewis Arrowsmith 322: My physical chemistry is nix, and my maths, rotten.
1939		J. Rhys Good Morning Midnight (1969) 96: But no money? Nix?
1957		Kerouac letter May in Charters II (1999) 30: No fine American friends could let me sleep on their floor [...] Gregory was nix because of his landlady.