nip
nip is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 10 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.
Definitions
- 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. 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.
- 2.To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip. The small shoots ... must be nipped off. Mortimer.
- 3.Hence: To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.
- 4.To vex or pain, as by nipping; hence, to taunt. And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip. Spenser. To nip in the bud, to cut off at the verycommencement of growth; to kill in the incipient stage.
- 5.A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching; as, in the northern seas, the nip of masses of ice.
- 6.A pinch with the nails or teeth.
- 7.A small cut, or a cutting off the end.
- 8.A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.
- 9.A biting sarcasm; a taunt. Latimer.
- 10.(Naut.) A short turn in a rope. Nip and tuck, a phrase signifying equality in a contest. [Low, U.S.]
Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
Synonyms
Related terms (Roget's 1911)
- air
- amianth
- amianthus
- annihilator
- asbestos
- attic
- benumb
- bite
- box
- brigade
- burn
- central
- chatter
- chill
- congeal
- congelation
- conglaciation
- cool
- cooling
- cut
- damp
- density
- earth
- extinguish
- fan
- fire
- fireman
- flax
- flexible
- freeze
- frigorific
- frozen
- glaciate
- ice
- incombustibility
- infrigidation
- insulation
- make
- marrow
- out
Source: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
Related questions
Reverse-dictionary questions
Definition-first questions whose answer is nip.
- What is to remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip. The small shoots ... must be nipped off. Mortimer called?
- What is hence: To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy called?
- What is to vex or pain, as by nipping; hence, to taunt. And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip. Spenser. To nip in the bud, to cut off at the verycommencement of growth; to kill in the incipient stage called?
- What is a seizing or closing in upon; a pinching; as, in the northern seas, the nip of masses of ice called?
- What is a blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost called?
- What is a short turn in a rope. Nip and tuck, a phrase signifying equality in a contest. [Low, U.S.] called?
Sources
- Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
- Synonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
- Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/word/nip
- Steward: Jason Burns