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The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms » in the nick of time
in the nick of time
in the nick of time idiom
Also,
just in time. At the last moment, as in The police arrived in the nick of time, or He got there just in time for dinner. The first term began life as
in the nick and dates from the 1500s, when nick meant “the critical moment” (a meaning now obsolete). The second employs just in the sense of “precisely” or “closely,” a usage applied to time since the 1500s. Also see in time, def. 1.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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