nip
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Short for nipperkin, ultimately from Middle Low German nippen or Middle Dutch nipen ("to sip; nip"; > Dutch nippen). Compare also German nippen (“to sip; taste”).
Noun
nip (plural nips)
- A small quantity of something edible or a potable liquor.
- I’ll just take a nip of that cake.
- He had a nip of whiskey.
- Synonyms: (of food) nibble, (specifically of alcohol) a little of the creature; see also Thesaurus:drink
Etymology 2
Noun
nip (plural nips)
Etymology 3
From Middle English nippen, probably a byform of earlier *knippen (suggested by the derivative Middle English knippette (“pincers”)), related to Dutch nijpen, knijpen (“to pinch”), Danish nive (“pinch”); Swedish nypa (“pinch”); Low German knipen; German kneipen and kneifen (“to pinch, cut off, nip”), Old Norse hnippa (“to prod, poke”); Lithuanian knebti.
Verb
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- To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.
- 1859, Alfred Tennyson, Idylls of the King, Merlin and Vivien:
- May this hard earth cleave to the Nadir hell, Down, down, and close again, and nip me flat, If I be such a traitress.
- To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
- 1716, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry[1]:
- The small shoots ... must be nipt off.
- To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.
- To annoy, as by nipping.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:
- And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip.
- To taunt.
- (Scotland, Northern England) To squeeze or pinch.
- (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To steal; especially to cut a purse.
- 1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Bullen, Arthur Henry, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton[2], volume 4, published 1885, Act 5, Scene 1, pages 128–129:
- Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.
- 1712, J. Shirley, “The Black Procession”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris[3], verse 4, published 1896, page 38:
- The twelfth is a beau-trap, if a cull he does meet, / He nips all his cole, and turns him into the street.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:steal
Noun
nip (plural nips)
- A playful bite.
- The puppy gave his owner’s finger a nip.
- A pinch with the nails or teeth.
- Briskly cold weather.
- There is a nip in the air. It is nippy outside.
- 1915, W.S. Maugham, "Of Human Bondage", chapter 118:
- The day had only just broken, and there was a nip in the air; but the sky was cloudless, and the sun was shining yellow.
- A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching
- the nip of masses of ice
- A small cut, or a cutting off the end.
- (mining) A more or less gradual thinning out of a stratum.
- A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.
- A biting sarcasm; a taunt.
- (nautical) A short turn in a rope.
- (papermaking) The place of intersection where one roll touches another
- (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) A pickpocket.
- 1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society, published 2006, page 27:
- A novice nip, newly arrived in London, went one afternoon to the Red Bull in Bishopsgate, an inn converted to a playhouse.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pickpocket
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 4
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Verb
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- (informal) To make a quick, short journey or errand, usually a round trip.
- Why don’t you nip down to the grocer’s for some milk?
Anagrams
Albanian
Etymology
From Proto-Albanian *nepō, from Proto-Indo-European *népōts (“grandson, nephew”). Cognate to Latin nepos (“grandson”) and Sanskrit नपात् (nápat-, “grandson”). Reinforcement/influence or a borrowing from Latin is also possible.[1]
Noun
nip m (plural nipër, definite nipi, definite plural nipërt)
Derived terms
See also
References
- ^ Topalli, K. (2017) “nip”, in Fjalor Etimologjik i Gjuhës Shqipe, Durrës, Albania: Jozef, page 1064
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
nip
- (deprecated template usage) first-person singular present indicative of nippen
- (deprecated template usage) imperative of nippen
Anagrams
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪp
- English terms derived from Middle Low German
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English clippings
- English slang
- English vulgarities
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms with quotations
- Scottish English
- Northern England English
- English terms with obsolete senses
- British English
- English Thieves' Cant
- en:Mining
- en:Nautical
- English informal terms
- Albanian terms inherited from Proto-Albanian
- Albanian terms derived from Proto-Albanian
- Albanian terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Albanian lemmas
- Albanian nouns
- Albanian masculine nouns
- sq:Family
- sq:Male
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms