Nip Definition

nĭp
nipped, nipping, nips
verb
nipped, nipping, nips
To give a nip or nips.
Webster's New World
To catch or squeeze between two surfaces, points, or edges; pinch or bite.
Webster's New World
To sever (shoots, buds, etc.) by pinching or clipping.
Webster's New World
To have a painful or injurious effect on because of cold.
Frost nipped the plants.
Webster's New World
To check the growth or development of.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
noun
nips
The act or an instance of seizing or pinching.
American Heritage
The act of nipping; pinch; bite.
Webster's New World
A piece nipped off; small bit.
Webster's New World
A stinging quality, as in cold or frosty air.
Webster's New World
Stinging cold; frost.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
idiom
nip and tuck
  • so closely contested as to leave the outcome in doubt; neck and neck
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Nip

Noun

Singular:
nip
Plural:
nips

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Nip

Origin of Nip

  • 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.

    From Wiktionary

  • Probably short for nipperkin of Dutch or Low German origin

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English nippen perhaps from Middle Dutch nipen

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle English nippen (“a small sip").

    From Wiktionary

  • From Nippon (Japanese 日本).

    From Wiktionary

  • Diminutive of nipple.

    From Wiktionary

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