nip
/nɪp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.32 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.
verb
To taunt.
Example Sentences
- "May this hard earth cleave to the Nadir hell, Down, down, and close again, and nip me flat, If I be such a traitress."
- "The small shoots ... must be nipt off."
- "And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip."
- "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."
- "The twelfth is a beau-trap, if a cull he does meet, / He nips all his cole, and turns him into the street."
- ""I tell you he's after me," hissed Cripps. "For nipping Antonio's fruit?" demanded Limpet, astonished into a normal attitude on both feet."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: nippen, -, knîpen, *knīpan, *knīpaną, nipen