nibbling

English

Verb

nibbling

1. Present participle of nibble.

Noun

nibbling (plural nibblings)

1. The act or sound of one who nibbles.
   • Virginia Woolf

     Minute nibblings and rustlings broke the silence.

2. A small adjustment or encroachment.
   • 1821, The British Prose Writers: Gray's letters (page 26)

     I send you back the two last sheets, because you bid me. I reserve my nibblings and minutiae for another day.

   • 2013, John Dewey, China, Japan, and the USA

     Meantime the penetration of Shantung by means of railway discrimination, railway military guards, continual nibblings here and there, will be going on.