knick

Verb

nick (third-person singular simple present nicks, present participle nicking, simple past and past participle nicked)

1. (transitive) To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way.
   • I nicked myself while I was shaving.
   1. (transitive) To make ragged or uneven, as by cutting nicks or notches in; to deface, to mar.
      • The itch of his Affection ſhould not then / Haue nickt his Captain-ſhip, at ſuch a point, / When halfe to halfe the world oppos'd, he being / The meered queſtion?c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
   2. (rare, transitive) To make a crosscut or cuts on the underside of (the tail of a horse, in order to make the animal carry it higher).
      • The barbarous custom of docking and nicking the tail, and cutting the ears of horses, is too prevalent. [...] [I]n the loss of their tail, they find even a still greater inconvenience. During summer they are perpetually teazed with swarms of insects that either attempt to suck their blood or...1815, Henry Bracken, “Receipts. To Cure the Grease, Surfeits, Loss of Appetite, Cough, Shortness of Breath; to Purify the Blood, and to Fatten Tired and Wasted Horses. [Additional Information.]”, in...
2. (obsolete, transitive) To fit into or suit, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.
   • An Alluſion is as it were a dalliance or playing with words, like in ſound, vnlike in ſense, by changing, adding, or ſubtracting a letter or two; ſo that words nicking and reſembling one the other, are appliable to diffrent ſignifications.1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], “Allusions”, in Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 140
   1. (figuratively, obsolete, sometimes, transitive) To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time.
      • [I]t requires a Critical Nicety both of Wit, and of Judgment, to find out the Genius, or the Propenſions, of a Child, […] The Juſt Seaſon of Doing Things must be Nick'd, and All Accidents Obſerv'd and Improv'd; for Weak Minds are to be as Narrowly Attended, as Sickly Bodies: […]1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] XXXVIII. A Horse and an Asse. [Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC...
   2. (obsolete, transitive) To hit the ball with the edge of the bat and produce a fine deflection.
      • Two balls later, I nick one and it carries beautifully to Peter Bowler at first slip, a complete dolly catch, and he drops it.2013, Ian Botham, with Dean Wilson, “Steve James – Fine Dining”, in Beefy’s Cricket Tales: My Favourite Stories from On and Off the Field, London: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 145

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