# nip
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: nĭp, IPA: /nɪp/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪp

### Etymology 1

From late Middle English nippen, probably of Low German or Dutch origin, probably a byform of earlier *knippen (suggested by the derivative Middle English knippette (“pincers”)), from Middle Low German knîpen, from Old Saxon *knīpan, from Proto-West Germanic *knīpan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *knīpaną (“to pinch”).
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.

#### Alternative forms

* gnip, knip

#### Verb

nip (third-person singular simple present nips, present participle nipping, simple past and past participle nipped)
* 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:The small shoots ... must be nipt off.
* To benumb [e.g., cheeks, fingers, nose] by severe cold.
* 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 Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton‎, 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, 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
* (obsolete) To affect [one] painfully; to cause physical pain.'
** 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, XII [Uniform ed., p. 136]:
    He had never expected to fling the soldier, or to be flung by Flea. “One nips or is nipped,” he thought, “and never knows beforehand. …"

##### Derived terms

* nip at

##### Translations
#### 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.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus: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.

##### Derived terms

* in the nip
* nip and tuck
* nip in the bud
* nip-outnip-up
* nip point

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Etymology 2

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 amount of food or drink, (particularly) a small amount of liquor.
    Synonyms: (of food) nibble, (specifically of alcohol) a little of the creature; see also Thesaurus:drink
    I’ll just take a nip of that cake.
    He had a nip of whiskey.

##### Synonyms

* (small amount of liquor): dram, snifter, slug, tot; see also Thesaurus:drink

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

Clipping of nipple.

#### Noun

nip (plural nips)
* (slang, vulgar) A nipple, usually of a woman.
    Did you manage to sneak a peek at her nips, bro?
** 2023 August 28, Vanessa Friedman, quoting Eddye, Madison, Wis., “Are There Any Rules About Going Braless?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:I find bras totally uncomfortable, hot and itchy, for both work and leisure. But looking around, I seem to be in the minority. What are the rules for going braless? Is it OK to show my nips, or is it rude?

##### Derived terms

* nip nop
* nip slip

#### Verb

nip (third-person singular simple present nips, present participle nipping, simple past and past participle nipped)
* (slang, vulgar) To have erect nipples.

### Etymology 4

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

#### Verb

nip (third-person singular simple present nips, present participle nipping, simple past and past participle nipped)
* (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?
** 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 58:My trip ends at Wrexham General. While the '150' trundles the final half-mile down the single line to Wrexham Central, I nip over the footbridge to explore the main part of the station.
** 2025 March 1, Barney Ronay, “Crystal Palace through after Millwall keeper’s red for head-high tackle on Mateta”, in The Guardian‎:Palace made it 3-1 on 81 minutes, Nketiah nipping in to finish nicely, then doing a no-celebration pose in front of the away fans. Nketiah grew up a couple of miles from the Den. It felt, at the very least, like a neighbourly overture, and in violent contrast to the opening act at the other end.

### Etymology 5

Canada 1931.

#### Noun

nip (plural nips)
* (Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario) A hamburger.

### References

* “nip” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
* Roberts, David (2001 February 24) “Rock Royalty Buys Winnipeg ‘Crown Jewel’”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, page A3.

### Anagrams

* PIN, NPI, INP, pin

## 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.

### Noun

nip m (plural nipër, definite nipi, definite plural nipërt)
* nephew
* grandson

#### Derived terms

* nipash
* nipat
* nipçe
* nipëri
* nipërit
* nipët
* nipoll

#### See also

* mbesë

### References

* ↑ Topalli, K. (2017) “nip”, in Fjalor Etimologjik i Gjuhës Shqipe, Durrës, Albania: Jozef, page 1064

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

nip
* inflection of nippen:
** first-person singular present indicative
** (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
** imperative

### Anagrams

* pin

## Old English
### Noun

nip ?
* Meaning unclear, glosses Latin rudente, a form of rū̆dēns (“rope, roaring”)

### References

* Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “nip”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

## Old Irish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /n͈ʲiːb/

### Verb

nip
* Alternative spelling of níp

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Hungarian nép.

### Noun

nip n (uncountable)
* (Transylvania) people (as a large group)

#### Declension
### References

* nip in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN