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in the nick of time

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

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in the nick of time

  1. (idiomatic) At the last possible moment; at the last minute.
    Synonyms: eleventh hour, under the wire, just in time; see also Thesaurus:just in time
    He finished writing his paper and slid it under the door just in the nick of time.
    • 1990, James Broughton, Special Deliveries: New and Selected Poems, Seattle, Wash.: Broken Moon Press, →ISBN, page 12:
      In the nick of time he lassoed with a trounce / the low-down villains who had stubbed our toes.
    • 2004, Lover's Knot‎[1], pages 194, 202:
      Sir Frances stopped midrant, and just in the nick of time, for his next words would have been "veriest whipster,"
    • 2012 December 24, Mark Heisler, “After Looking East to the Knicks, Nash Cut West to the Lakers”, in New York Times:
      Happily for the Lakers, who were mincemeat without him, Nash is back in the nick of time, with the Knicks, who walked all over them in New York two weeks ago, in town for a Christmas Day game.

Derived terms

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Translations

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