nim
/nɪm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.82 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative form of neem (“Indian tree”).
Example Sentences
- "Ich cham a Cornysche man, al[e] che can brew; […] Nym me a quart of ale, that iche may it of sup."
- "Then Alfyne to the court Of Syleuma doth come, And Pandauola in her armes Her Alfyne hath up num And kisseth him full ofte […]"
- "Gryndall carefully sets out the difference between seizing or nimming a bird (an outcome that would constitute a partly successful flight) and taking the bird outright: 'And if your Hawke noume [nim, seize] a foule, and the foule breake from her, she hath discomfited many feathers of the foule, and is broken away: but in kindly speech you shall say, your hawke hath noumed or seased a foule, and not taken it'."
- "They'll question Mars, and, by his look, Detect who 'twas that nimm'd a cloak;"
- "Nimming and niftering whativver he can try his fists on."
- "But while he fell in some brave exploit, you, I suppose, being provident rogues and thieves of discretion, were on the sure lay, pilfering little thefts among the mob, fearfully nimming a cloak or rifling some old woman's bulk of a stock to set up a piece-broker's shop."
Etymology
From Middle English nimen, from Old English niman (“to take”), from Proto-West Germanic *neman, from Proto-Germanic *nemaną (“to take”), from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to give or take one's due”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian nieme (“to take”), West Frisian nimme (“to take”), Dutch nemen (“to take”), Low German nehmen (“to take”), German nehmen (“to take”), Danish nemme (“to learn, grasp”). Related to numb and nimble.