nim
/nɪm/
nim verb: to take or seize. Also the alternative form of neem.
Verb
nim (third-person singular simple present nims, present participle nimming, simple past nam or nimmed, past participle num or nimmed)
- To take or seize.
- Ich cham a Cornysche man, al[e] che can brew; […] Nym me a quart of ale, that iche may it of sup.1547 (original; printed 1870), Andrew Boorde, The First Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge, page 122
- Then Alfyne to the court Of Syleuma doth come,
And Pandauola in her armes
Her Alfyne hath up num
And kisseth him full ofte […]1566–1573 (original; printed 1873), John Partridge, The Hystorie of the Moste Noble Knight Plasidas, and Other Rare Pieces, page 106
- To filch, steal, pilfer.
- They'll question Mars, and, by his look,
Detect who 'twas that nimm'd a cloak;1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 1 - Nimming and niftering whativver he can try his fists on.1785, Hutton, Bran New Wark, I. 305, quoted in 1903, Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary: M-Q, page 273
- They'll question Mars, and, by his look,
- To walk with short, quick strides; trip along.
- The old lady does nim along.1856, Thompson, Hist. Boston, page 716, quoted in 1903, Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary: M-Q, page 273
- Ah had set myself doon where the aums meet aboon,
When Jinny jamp oop, and ganned nimming alang1949, Wilfrid J. Halliday, Arthur Stanley Umpleby, The White Rose Garland of Yorkshire Dialect Verse and Local and Folk-lore Rhymes (quoting Irene Sutcliffe), page 111
Noun
nim (uncountable)
- A game in which players take turns removing objects from heaps.
Also used as
nim is also the alternative form of neem.
Forms of nim
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | nims |
| present participle | nimming |
| past | nam |
| past | nimmed |
| past participle | num |
| past participle | nimmed |
| Noun | |
| plural | nims |
Origin of nim
From Middle English nimen, from Old English niman (“to take”), from Proto-West Germanic *neman, from Proto-Germanic *nemaną (“to take”), from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to give or take one's due”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian nieme (“to take”), West Frisian nimme (“to take”), Dutch nemen (“to take”), Low German nehmen (“to take”), German nehmen (“to take”), Danish nemme (“to learn, grasp”). Related to numb and nimble.
Words formed from nim
Words that rhyme with nim
Questions about nim
- What does nim mean?
- Nim means to take or seize.
- What part of speech is nim?
- Nim can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce nim?
- Nim is pronounced /nɪm/.
- What is the past tense of nim?
- The past tense of nim is nam.
Words near nim in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nim (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-nim.ogg.
Cite this entry: “nim.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.