catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Nip \Nip\, n. [LG. & D. nippen to sip; akin to Dan. nippe, G.
     nippen.]
     A sip or small draught; esp., a draught of intoxicating
     liquor; a dram.
     [1913 Webster]

  Nip \Nip\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nipped, less properly Nipt;
     p. pr. & vb. n. Nipping.] [OE. nipen; cf. D. niipen to
     pinch, also knippen to nip, clip, pinch, snap, knijpen to
     pinch, LG. knipen, G. kneipen, kneifen, to pinch, cut off,
     nip, Lith. knebti.]
     1. To catch and inclose or compress tightly between two
        surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed;
        to pinch; to close in upon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              May this hard earth cleave to the Nadir hell,
              Down, down, and close again, and nip me flat,
              If I be such a traitress.             --Tennyson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting
        edges of anything; to clip.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The small shoots . . . must be nipped off.
                                                    --Mortimer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Hence: To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor
        of; to destroy.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To vex or pain, as by nipping; hence, to taunt.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip.
                                                    --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     To nip in the bud, to cut off at the very commencement of
        growth; to kill in the incipient stage.
        [1913 Webster]

  Nip \Nip\, n.
     1. A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching; as, in the
        northern seas, the nip of masses of ice.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A pinch with the nails or teeth.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A small cut, or a cutting off the end.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. A biting sarcasm; a taunt. --Latimer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Naut.) A short turn in a rope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Nip and tuck, a phrase signifying equality in a contest;
        as, it was nip and tuck right to the last minute of play.
        [Low, U.S.]
        [1913 Webster]