nip

Meaning

Verb

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.
2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
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.
6. To taunt.
7. (Northern-England, Scotland) To squeeze or pinch.
8. (UK, obsolete) To steal; especially to cut a purse.
9. (obsolete) To affect [one] painfully; to cause physical pain.'

Noun

1. A playful bite.
2. A pinch with the nails or teeth.
3. Briskly cold weather.
4. A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching
5. A small cut, or a cutting off the end.
6. 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. A short turn in a rope.
10. The place of intersection where one roll touches another
11. (UK, obsolete) A pickpocket.

Noun

A small amount of food or drink, (particularly) a small amount of liquor.

Noun

A nipple, usually of a woman.

Noun

A hamburger.

Synonyms

pinch

bite

squeeze

tweak

nibble

clip

snap

tang

clamp

🗜️

snifter

chilliness

snip

grip

pluck

peck

sting

twinge

coolness

snorter

dram

peg

twitch

frost

nick

sip

smack

sever

savour

shot

steal

purloin

gelidity

relish

frostiness

piquancy

piquantness

sapidity

flavour

bit

freeze

flavor

coldness

nip off

glaciation

gnaw

crush

pick

⛏️

munch

chill

cold

🥶

Translations

pincer

kneifen

pellizcar

pizzicare

pizzicotto

τσιμπώ

pizzico

mordiscar

τσίμπημα

aperitief

pessigar

zwicken

borrel

morsure

abîmer

Pronounced as (IPA)

/nɪp/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: nippen

Cognate with Middle English: knippette

Cognate with Dutch: nijpen

Cognate with Danish: nive

Cognate with Swedish: nypa

Cognate with Low German: knipen

Cognate with German: kneipen

Cognate with Old Norse: hnippa

Cognate with Lithuanian: knebti

Cognate with Dutch: nippen

Cognate with German: nippen

In summary

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.