nip

See also: Nip, NIP, and níp

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: nĭp, IPA^(key): /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)

1. 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.

2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
   • 1716, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry‎^[1]:

     The small shoots ... must be nipt off.

3. To benumb [e.g., cheeks, fingers, nose] by severe cold.
4. To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.
5. To annoy, as by nipping.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:

     And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip.

6. To taunt.
7. (Scotland, Northern England) To squeeze or pinch.
8. (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^[2], 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^[3], 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

9. (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

To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces

• Bulgarian: щипя (bg) (štipja), защипвам (bg) (zaštipvam)
• Finnish: puristaa (fi)
• German: kneifen (de), zusammenquetschen (de)
• Latin: vellicō

Noun

nip (plural nips)

1. A playful bite.

   The puppy gave his owner’s finger a nip.

2. A pinch with the nails or teeth.
3. 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.

4. A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching

   the nip of masses of ice

5. A small cut, or a cutting off the end.
6. (mining) A more or less gradual thinning out of a stratum.
7. A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.
8. A biting sarcasm; a taunt.
9. (nautical) A short turn in a rope.
10. (papermaking) The place of intersection where one roll touches another
11. (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

playful bite

• Finnish: näykkäisy
• Irish: liomóg f
• Portuguese: mordiscar (pt)
• Swedish: nafs (sv) n

cold weather

• Finnish: pakkanen (fi)
• Swedish: nyp (sv) n

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

Translations to be checked

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} తుంచు (te) (tuñcu)

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)

1. 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

small amount of alcohol

• Bulgarian: глътка (bg) f (glǎtka)
• Catalan: xarrup (ca)
• Finnish: naukku (fi)

Etymology 3

Clipping of nipple.

Noun

nip (plural nips)

1. (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^[4], →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)

1. (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)

1. (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.

Etymology 5

Canada 1931.

Noun

nip (plural nips)

1. (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)

1. nephew
2. grandson

Derived terms

• nipash
• nipat
• nipçe
• nipëri
• nipërit
• nipët
• nipoll

 

See also

• mbesë

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

nip

1. inflection of nippen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Anagrams

• pin

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n͈ʲiːb/

Verb

nip

1. Alternative spelling of níp

Mutation

Mutation of nip

radical	lenition	nasalization
nip also nnip after a proclitic ending in a vowel	nip pronounced with /n(ʲ)-/	unchanged

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)

1. (Transylvania) people (as a large group)

Declension

declension of nip (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) nip	nipul
genitive/dative	(unui) nip	nipului
vocative	nipule

References

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