# nipple
## English
### Alternative forms

* neple, nypil, nyppell, neapel, neaple, neble (obsolete)

### Etymology

From earlier neple, nypil, neble, believed to be a diminutive of nib, neb (“tip, point”), equivalent to nib +‎ -le. Compare Old English nypel (“elephant trunk”), formed analogously as "a protuberance from one's neb" .

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈnɪ.p(ə)l/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪpəl

### Noun

nipple (plural nipples)
* (anatomy) The projection of a mammary gland from which, on female therian mammals, milk is secreted. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: tit; see also Thesaurus:nipples
* The nipple (definition 1) and the areola together.
* A mechanical device through which liquids or gases can be passed in a regulated manner. [from 16th c.]
* An artificial nipple (definition 1) used for bottle-feeding infants. [from 17th c.]
    Synonym: teat
* Any small physical protrusion, such as the lumps on the F and J keys on computer keyboards.
* Any small physical protrusion on an automotive, a machine part or any other part that fits into a groove on another part.
* (now chiefly historical) A perforated segment that fits into part of the breech of a muzzle-loading gun, on which the percussion cap is fixed. [from 19th c.]
** 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 23:I could tell he didn't agree but he went to the corner and took up his squirrel gun, feeling the nipple for a percussion cap.
* (plumbing, chiefly US) A short tube threaded at both ends, used as a connector. [from 19th c.]
* (cycling) An internally threaded piece which holds a bicycle spoke in place on the rim. [from 20th c.]
    Turn the nipples on to the bicycle spokes only one turn, for each spoke on the new wheel all the way around until they are all snug, then check alignment.
** 1921, W. F. Grew, The Cycle Industry, London, page 5:These were first constructed by heading the spokes, threading them through a steel felloe or rim and inserting them into screwed nipples which were in their turn screwed into the flanges of the hub.
* (computing, humorous) A pointing stick.

#### Derived terms

* grease nipple
* nip
* Nipple Butte
* nipple cactus
* nipple clamp
* nipple-confused
* nipple confusion
* nipple cripple
* nippled
* nipplefruit
* nipple gong
* nipple guard
* nippleless
* nipplelike
* nipple mouse
* nipple pastie
* nipple pasty
* nipple shield
* nipplewort
* nipple wrench
* nippley
* nipply
* Paget's disease of the nipple
* pepperoni nipple
* scalp-ear-nipple syndrome
* slippery nipple
* spoke nipple

#### Descendants

* → Dutch: nippel
* → German: Nippel
** → Danish: nippel
* → Norwegian: nippel

#### Translations
### Verb

nipple (third-person singular simple present nipples, present participle nippling, simple past and past participle nippled)
* (transitive) To fit (a baby's bottle, etc.) with a nipple.
* (transitive) To give one's nipple to (a baby) to allow breastfeeding.

### Further reading

* nipple on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* lippen

## Yola
### Noun

nipple
* diminutive of neape
** GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:
    Nipple is a diminutive of nape or neap.

### References

* Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 59