nicks

Noun

nick (plural nicks)

1. (archaic) A particular place or point considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.
   • in the nick of time
2. (dated) A notch cut crosswise in the shank of a type, to assist a compositor in placing it properly in the stick, and in distribution.
   • A nick is a hollow cast crossways in the shanks of types, to make a distinction readily between differnt sorts and sizes; and to enable the compositor to perceive quickly the bottom of the letter as it lies in the case, when composing; as nicks are always cast on that side of the shank on which the...1841, William Savage, “NICK”, in A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 543
3. A small deflection of the ball off the edge of the bat, often going to the wicket-keeper for a catch.
   • Just as a judge may mistakenly believe in the credibility of a clever liar, thereby reaching an 'incorrect decision', an umpire dealing with the blur of a fast bowler and listening for a nick of the bat, or lifting his eyes quickly from the bowler's front foot to follow the flight and pitch of the...2005, David Fraser, “The Man in White is Always Right (but He is Not Always Neutral)”, in Cricket and the Law: The Man in White is Always Right, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge...
4. One of the single-stranded DNA segments produced during nick translation.
   • Analysis of the effect of temperature on the polymerization reaction with nicked and gapped DNA substrates in Mn²⁺ (8) [...] reveals identical values of activation energy (Eₐ) and Q₁₀, indicating that the frequency of productive interactions of polymerase β with 3′-hydroxyl termini at nicks and...1981, David Korn, Paul A. Fisher, Teresa S.-F. Wang, “Mechanisms of Catalysis of Human DNA Polymerases α and β”, in Waldo E. Cohn, editor, Progress in Nucleic Acid Research and Molecular Biology...
5. (real tennis) The point where the wall of the court meets the floor.
   • Spin is a major feature of real tennis – because of it, some of the slowest shots can be the hardest to return. [...] Strokes played into the "nick" (the corner of the floor and the wall) and aggressive drives into the dedans, the winning gallery, or the grille are unreturnable.2013 September, “Racket Sports”, in Ray Stubbs (editorial consultant), Ed Wilson, editors, The Sports Book: The Sports, the Rules, the Tactics, the Techniques, 4th edition, London: Dorling...
6. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial) Often in the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition, state.
   • The car I bought was cheap and in good nick.

See all 20 meanings of nick