Definitions

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

  • 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.
  • 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.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sip or small draught, especially of some strong spirituous beverage: as, a, nip of brandy.
  • noun A short steep ascent.
  • noun A hill or mountain.
  • To take a dram or nip. See nip, n.
  • 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 turnip.
  • noun Mist; darkness.
  • In cricket:
  • To catch neatly: said of a fielder.
  • To break sharply: said of a bowled ball.
  • noun The place of contact between two cylinders, rollers, or bowls.
  • noun To take a new hold; refresh the memory.
  • noun A low cliff cut in the border of land near the sea.
  • To cut a low cliff in (the border of the land) by wave action.
  • 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

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

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

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Diminutive of nipple.

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.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word nip.

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

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.