Max says: "My Chambers does have "nubbin": "(US)n. A small or undedeveloped ear of corn, fruit etc."

And the Vicar responds: My best quess is that Max has either "The Chambers Dictionary" or "Chambers Encyclopedic English Dictionary" while the humble (and poor) vicar has only "Chambers Pocket Dictionary" (Edinburgh, 1992). This is because, when I wondered aloud to one of my classes what it would be like to have an English English dictionary, one of my students -- a short, wily Scotsman -- smuggled one back from a trip to his homeland, in his luggage, without payment of the appropriate duty.

Doubtless the "Pocket" (read: more easily smuggled) version has fewer words (at 60,000) than the larger, more expensive and harder to conceal editions.