nip
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: arts
business
crafts
hobbies
lifestyle
mining
nautical
papermaking
transport
Etymology: 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.
Inflected forms:
form: nips
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: nipping
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: nipped
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: nipped
pos: verb
tags: past
form: gnip
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: knip
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: nips
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: gnip
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: knip
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.
pos: verb
examples: May this hard earth cleave to the Nadir hell, Down, down, and close again, and nip me flat, If I be such a traitress.
gloss: To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
pos: verb
examples: The small shoots ... must be nipt off.
gloss: To benumb [e.g., cheeks, fingers, nose] by severe cold.
pos: verb
gloss: To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.
pos: verb
gloss: To annoy, as by nipping.
pos: verb
examples: And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip.
gloss: To taunt.
pos: verb
gloss: To squeeze or pinch.
pos: verb
tags: Northern-England
Scotland
gloss: To steal; especially to cut a purse.
pos: verb
tags: UK
obsolete
examples: 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.
The twelfth is a beau-trap, if a cull he does meet, / He nips all his cole, and turns him into the street.
"I tell you he's after me," hissed Cripps. "For nipping Antonio's fruit?" demanded Limpet, astonished into a normal attitude on both feet.
gloss: To affect [one] painfully; to cause physical pain.'
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: 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. …"
gloss: A playful bite.
pos: noun
examples: The puppy gave his owner’s finger a nip.
gloss: A pinch with the nails or teeth.
pos: noun
gloss: Briskly cold weather.
pos: noun
examples: There is a nip in the air. It is nippy outside.
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.
gloss: A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching
pos: noun
examples: the nip of masses of ice
gloss: A small cut, or a cutting off the end.
pos: noun
gloss: A more or less gradual thinning out of a stratum.
pos: noun
gloss: A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.
pos: noun
gloss: A biting sarcasm; a taunt.
pos: noun
gloss: A short turn in a rope.
pos: noun
gloss: The place of intersection where one roll touches another
pos: noun
gloss: A pickpocket.
pos: noun
tags: UK
obsolete
examples: A novice nip, newly arrived in London, went one afternoon to the Red Bull in Bishopsgate, an inn converted to a playhouse.
Derived words: nip at
frostnip
in the nip
nimps
nip and tuck
nipbacker
nipcheese
nipfarthing
nip in the bud
nipless
nip-outnip-up
nipper
nip point
Translations: