Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To seize and pinch or bite.
  • intransitive verb To remove or sever by pinching or snipping.
  • intransitive verb To bite or sting with the cold; chill.
  • intransitive verb To check or cut off the growth or development of.
  • intransitive verb To snatch up hastily.
  • intransitive verb To take (the property of another) unlawfully; steal.
  • intransitive verb To move quickly; dart.
  • noun The act or an instance of seizing or pinching.
  • noun A pinch or snip that cuts off or removes a small part.
  • noun The small bit or portion so removed.
  • noun A sharp, stinging quality, as of frosty air.
  • noun Severely sharp cold or frost.
  • noun A cutting remark.
  • noun A sharp, biting flavor; a tang.
  • noun A small amount of liquor.
  • intransitive verb To sip (alcoholic liquor) in small amounts.
  • intransitive verb To take a sip or sips of alcoholic liquor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A short steep ascent.
  • noun A hill or mountain.
  • noun Mist; darkness.
  • noun A turnip.
  • noun The place of contact between two cylinders, rollers, or bowls.
  • noun To take a new hold; refresh the memory.
  • To cut a low cliff in (the border of the land) by wave action.
  • To press sharply and tightly between two surfaces or points, as of the fingers; pinch.
  • Figuratively, to press closely upon; affect; concern.
  • To sever or break the edge or end of by pinching; pinch (off) with the ends of the fingers or with pincers or nippers: with off.
  • To blast, as by frost; destroy; check the growth or vigor of.
  • To affect with a sharp tingling sensation; benumb.
  • To bite; sting.
  • To satirize keenly; taunt sarcastically; vex.
  • To steal, pilfer; purloin.
  • To snatch up hastily.
  • to tie or secure a cable with nippers to the messenger.
  • noun A low cliff cut in the border of land near the sea.
  • noun A sip or small draught, especially of some strong spirituous beverage: as, a, nip of brandy.
  • To take a dram or nip. See nip, n.
  • In cricket:
  • To catch neatly: said of a fielder.
  • To break sharply: said of a bowled ball.
  • noun The act of compressing between two opposing surfaces or points, as in seizing and compressing a bit of the skin between the fingers; a pinch.
  • noun A closing in of ice about a vessel so as to press upon or crush her.
  • noun A pinch which severs or removes a part; a snipping, biting, or pinching off.
  • noun A small bit of anything; as much as may be nipped off by the finger and thumb.
  • noun A check to growth from a sudden blasting or attack from frost or cold; a sharp frost-bite which kills the tips or ends of a plant or leaf.
  • noun A biting sarcasm; a taunt.
  • noun A thief; a pickpocket.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English nippen, perhaps from Middle Dutch nipen.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably short for nipperkin, of Dutch or Low German origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Diminutive of nipple.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English nippen ("a small sip").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from a form of Middle Dutch nipen. Cognate with Danish nive ("pinch"); Low German knipen; German kneipen and kneifen ("to pinch, cut off, nip"), Old Norse hnippa ("to prod, to poke"); Lithuanian knebti.

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Examples

  • Mr. Ditton, the village lawyer, also saw it without having recourse to the spy-glass; but as Mr. Ditton had but lately had what he called a nip, and indeed several of them, he was in that happy state of sweet good nature which agrees with the last speaker.

    The Mad Lady 1916

  • I've just had a course of five, which was prompted by a nip from a stray cat, which I feed, here in India.

    The mysteries of rabies Boing Boing 2009

  • If his sister got a nip from the other dog, the brother would fight harder.

    Waldo Jaquith - You’re never anonymous on the internet. 2007

  • Back at the residence, Nasrah took a nip from the prince's bottle of 150-year-old Napoleon.

    Florence of Arabia 2004

  • Back at the residence, Nasrah took a nip from the prince's bottle of 150-year-old Napoleon.

    Florence of Arabia 2004

  • I reached in my desk drawer and pulled out a "nip" - one of those little bottles of booze you see up by the cash register in a liquor store.

    Matt Slade, Esq.--Pro Bono Czar 2010

  • Whether it is bought by the case or by the bottle - or the 'nip' - averag income drinkers are expecting to face increases that will, by some stretch, force them to compromise their tastes.

    TrinidadExpress Today's News 2009

  • Most moonshine is drunk by African-Americans in unlicensed bars called nip joints or shot houses.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

  • Most moonshine is drunk by African-Americans in unlicensed bars called nip joints or shot houses.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

  • Most moonshine is drunk by African-Americans in unlicensed bars called nip joints or shot houses.

    CHASING the WHITE DOG MAX WATMAN 2010

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