nibble
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
road
sports
transport
Etymology: The verb is derived from Late Middle English nebillen, nebyll (“to peck away at (something), nibble; (figurative) to attempt to sing (a part of a song)”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Middle Low German nibbelen (“to eat in small bites, peck”) (modern German Low German nibbeln, gnibbeln, knibbeln), possibly a variant of knabbelen, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnet- (“to press”) or imitative.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Cognates
* Middle Dutch cnibbelen (modern Dutch knibbelen (“to gnaw; to murmur”), nibbelen (“to nibble”))
* Saterland Frisian nibje (“to nibble”)
* West Frisian knibbelje
Inflected forms:
form: nibbles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: nibbling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: nibbled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: nibbled
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: nibble
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: nibble
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: nibbled
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: nibble
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: nibblest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: nibbled
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: nibbledst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: nibbles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: nibbleth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: nibbled
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: nibble
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: nibbled
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: nibble
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: nibbled
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: nibble
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: nibbling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: nibbled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: nibbles
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To take a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, of (something).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The rabbit nibbled the lettuce.
His little Goats gan driue out of their ſtalls, / To feede abroad, vvhere paſture beſt befalls. / […] / Some clambring through the hollovv cliffes on hy, / Nibble the buſhie ſhrubs, vvhich grovve thereby.
I then nibbled all the red wax of our last ball-tickets, […]
Dire Ills, it ſeems! their Gods denounce in Rage; / And Garlick only, can their Gods aſſvvage. / Thrice then, each Morn, (for thrice the Povvers direct) / Garlick thou nibbleſt, vvith devout Reſpect.
A silent space with ever sprouting green. / All the tenderest birds there find a pleasant screen, / Creep through the shade with jaunty fluttering, / Nibble the little cupped flowers and sing.
Where every stream in its pent-house / Goes gurgling on its way, / And in his gallery the mouse / Nibbleth the meadow hay; […]
He would dream of Father Beron sitting at the end of a long black table, behind which, in a row, appeared the heads, shoulders, and epaulettes of the military members, nibbling the feather of a quill pen, and listening with weary and impatient scorn to the protestations of some prisoner calling heaven to witness of his innocence, […]
For the bread that you eat and the biscuits you nibble, / The sweets that you suck and the joints that you carve, / They are brought to you daily by all us Big Steamers, / And if any one hinders our coming you'll starve!
Giant parrots nibbled seed from the children's fingertips and my sister peeled a couple of satsumas for the lemurs.
The loosening of the normative allows her to be venturesome: having arrived at her usual height, she nibbles the right side of the mushroom again and so drives herself down to nine inches high.
gloss: To lightly bite (a person or animal, or part of their body), especially in a loving or playful manner; to nip.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: My hand, as it hangs down, thou nibblest tenderly, […]
Social animals perform many little services for each other: horses nibble, and cows lick each other, on any spot which itches: […]
gloss: To make (a hole in something) through small bites.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To make (one's way) through or while taking small bites.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Before he realized it, he had nibbled his way through a whole bag of potato chips.
The cows nibbled their way across the field.
gloss: Chiefly followed by into or to: to cause (something) to be in a certain state through small bites.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The bases of the smaller trees were nibbled bare by rabbits, […]
The grass had been nibbled short and even, so this stretch was not shaggy and red like the surrounding country, but gray and velvety.
gloss: Followed by away, off, etc.: to remove (something) through small bites.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The ravviſh danke of clumzie vvinter ramps / The fluent ſummers vaine: and drizling ſleete / Chilleth the vvan bleak cheek of the numd earth, / VVhilſt ſnarling guſts nibble the iuyceles leaues, / From the nak't ſhuddring branch; […]
Am I reiected, all my baites nibled off, / And not the fiſh caught?
Y[oung] Lar[oon]. I am ſure our Bait is good—A fine VVoman is as good a Bait for a Prieſt-trap, as toaſted Cheeſe is for a Mouſe-trap. / Old Lar[oon]. Yes, but the Raſcal vvill nibble off tvventy Baits before you can take him.
They had been silent for some minutes when Broughton took his cigar-case out of his pocket, and nibbled off the end of a cigar, preparatory to lighting it.
gloss: Followed by away, off, etc.: to remove (something) through small bites.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To fidget or play with (something), especially with the fingers or hands.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Ellen stood dumb and motionless, looking steadfastly down at the hem of her green jerkin, which she was nibbling with both her hands.
gloss: To catch (someone); to nab.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
slang
transitive
examples: [T]he Roague has ſpied me novv, hee nibled me finely once too; […]
gloss: To steal (something); to pilfer.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
slang
transitive
gloss: Chiefly followed by at, away, or on: to take a small, quick bite, or several of such bites; to eat (at frequent intervals) with small, quick bites.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The rabbit nibbled at the lettuce.
What deepe and rare pointes of hiddẽ [hidden] secrets Virgil hathe sealde vp in hys twelue bookes of Aeneis, maye easily appeare to such reaching wits, as bend their endeuours, to the vnfolding thereof; not only by gnibling vpon the outwarde rine of a supposed historie, but also by groaping the pyth, that is shrind vp within the barke and bodie of so exquisit and singular a discourse.
I doo but yet angle with a silken flye, to see whether Martins will nibble; and if I see that, why then I have wormes for the nonce, and will giue them line enough like a trowte, till they swallow both hooke and line, and then Martin beware your gilles, for Ile make you daunce at the poles end.
He vvill rob me, his teeth vvater to be nibbling at my gold, but this ſhal hang him by'th gills, till I pull him on ſhore.
Go daughters vvith your Angels to the brooke, / And ſee if any ſiluer-coated fiſh, / VVill nibble at your vvorme-embovveld hooks: […]
[L]et them play and nibble vvith the bait a vvhile; […]
[T]he Roach being a Fiſh that only nibbleth, if you ſtrike him not juſt in that very moment of his nibbling you vvill miſs him, […]
My comfort is, that by this opinion my Enemies are but ſucking Critiques, vvho vvou'd fain be nibbling ere their teeth are come.
Sheep grazed the field; some with soft bosom press'd / The herb as soft, while nibbling stray'd the rest; […]
gloss: To lightly bite, especially in a loving or playful manner.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He nibbled at my neck and made me shiver.
gloss: Chiefly followed by at: to show slight interest in something, such as a commercial opportunity or a proposal.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: [W]hy mouſe, thy minde is nibbling at ſomething, vvhats iſt, vvhat lyes vpon thy Stomach?
gloss: Followed by away at: to reduce or use up gradually; to eat.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: A report out this week from the National Consumer Law Center lays out a host of ways in which banks nibble away at jobless benefits with fees the center called "junk."
gloss: Followed by at: of a batter: to make an indecisive attempt to bat a ball bowled outside the off stump.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
informal
intransitive
gloss: Synonym of tramline (“of a vehicle: to tend to follow the contours of the ground with its wheels”).
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
gloss: To fidget or play, especially with the fingers or hands.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: [S]he was with childe in hir huſbande his abſence, or that hir louer vſed hir fondly in open preſence, as the preſumption was not onely vehement, but alſo the fact too too apparent. Hir vnfortunat huſband had not ſooner notice gyuen him vpon his returne of theſe ſorowfull newes, then his fingers began to nibble, hys teeth to grinne, hys eyes to trickle, his eares to dindle, his heade to dezell, in ſomuch as his heart being ſkeared wyth ialouſie, & his wits enſtalde through Phrenſie, he became as madde, as a marche hare.
gloss: Chiefly followed by at: to make insignificant complaints; to carp, to cavil, to find fault.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: Nay more, have not some of their devoted Schollers begun, I need to saw to nibble, but openly to argue against the Kings Supremacie?
But hovvever he vvill nibble at ſome Paſſages of this Section, to ſhevv his ovvn great VVit; though he borrovvs another Man's great reading.
But Saint Augustine has the great priority, / Who bids all men believe the impossible, / Because 'tis so. Who nibble, scribble, quibble, he / Quiets at once with "quia impossibile."
Deep-reaching doubt and "large discourse" are poetical; so is faith, so are sorrow and joy; but so are not the small troubles of spirits that nibble and quibble about beliefs living or dead; […]
gloss: To engage in sexual intercourse.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
slang
examples: Hart I vvould giue but too much money to be nibling vvith that vvench, […]
Sec[retary to the Dutchess]. […] A ſpirited Lady, vvould I had her in my cloſet, […] Exit. / Cel[inda]. I do ſuſpect this fellovv vvould be nibling / Like ſome vvhoſe narrovv fortunes vvill not riſe / To vvear things vvhen the inventions rare, and nevv, / But treading on the heel of pride, they hunt / The faſhion vvhen tis crippled, like fell tyrants; […]
gloss: An act of taking a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, especially with the front teeth; the bite or bites so taken.
pos: noun
examples: [H]e would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar's lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble.
gloss: A light bite of a person or animal, or part of their body, especially one which is loving or playful; a nip.
pos: noun
gloss: An amount of food that is or can be taken into the mouth through a small bite; a small mouthful.
pos: noun
examples: Yo'r sheep will be a' folded, a reckon, Measter Pratt, for there'll ne'er be a nibble o' grass to be seen this two month, according to my reading; […]
gloss: A slight show of interest in something, such as a commercial opportunity or a proposal.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
gloss: Grass or other vegetation eaten by livestock; forage, pasturage.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
rare
examples: On the northern slopes of the light-earthed hills the moss had come over the herbage, and the sweet nibble of the sheep was souring.
Derived words: nibbleable
nibbled
nibbler
nibblesome
nibbling
nibblingly
nibbly
unnibbled
nibble fish
nibbles
niblet
Translations: