Word.ws English Dictionary

nip

/nɪp/

nip verb: to catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon. Also the alternative spelling of Nip.

Verb (1)

nip (third-person singular simple present nips, present participle nipping, simple past and past participle nipped)

  1. To catch and enclose 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.1859, Alfred Tennyson, Idylls of the King, Merlin and Vivien
  2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
    • The small shoots ... must be nipt off.1716, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry
  3. To benumb [e.g., cheeks, fingers, nose] by severe cold.
  4. To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.
  5. To annoy, as by nipping.
    • And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip.1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
  6. To taunt.
  7. (Northern England, Scotland) To squeeze or pinch.
  8. (UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) To steal; especially to cut a purse.
    • Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, published 1885, act 5, scene 1, pages 128–129
    • The twelfth is a beau-trap, if a cull he does meet, / He nips all his cole, and turns him into the street.1712, J. Shirley, “The Black Procession”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, verse 4, published 1896, page 38
  9. (obsolete) To affect [one] painfully; to cause physical pain.'
    • He had never expected to fling the soldier, or to be flung by Flea. “One nips or is nipped,” he thought, “and never knows beforehand. …"1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, XII [Uniform ed., p. 136]

Noun (1)

nip (plural nips)

  1. A playful bite.
    • The puppy gave his owner’s finger a nip.
  2. A pinch with the nails or teeth.
  3. Briskly cold weather.
    • There is a nip in the air. It is nippy outside.
    • The day had only just broken, and there was a nip in the air; but the sky was cloudless, and the sun was shining yellow.1915, W.S. Maugham, Of Human Bondage, chapter 118
  4. A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching
    • the nip of masses of ice
  5. A small cut, or a cutting off the end.
  6. A more or less gradual thinning out of a stratum.
  7. A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.
  8. A biting sarcasm; a taunt.
  9. A short turn in a rope.
  10. The place of intersection where one roll touches another
  11. (UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) A pickpocket.
    • A novice nip, newly arrived in London, went one afternoon to the Red Bull in Bishopsgate, an inn converted to a playhouse.1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society, published 2006, page 27

Noun (2)

nip (plural nips)

  1. A small amount of food or drink, (particularly) a small amount of liquor.
    • I’ll just take a nip of that cake.
    • He had a nip of whiskey.

Noun (3)

nip (plural nips)

  1. (in plural, slang, vulgar) A nipple, usually of a woman.
    • Did you manage to sneak a peek at her nips, bro?
    • I find bras totally uncomfortable, hot and itchy, for both work and leisure. But looking around, I seem to be in the minority. What are the rules for going braless? Is it OK to show my nips, or is it rude?2023 August 28, Vanessa Friedman, quoting Eddye, Madison, Wis., “Are There Any Rules About Going Braless?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Verb (2)

nip (third-person singular simple present nips, present participle nipping, simple past and past participle nipped)

  1. (slang, vulgar) To have erect nipples.

Verb (3)

nip (third-person singular simple present nips, present participle nipping, simple past and past participle nipped)

  1. (informal) To make a quick, short journey or errand, usually a round trip.
    • Why don’t you nip down to the grocer’s for some milk?
    • My trip ends at Wrexham General. While the '150' trundles the final half-mile down the single line to Wrexham Central, I nip over the footbridge to explore the main part of the station.2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 58

Noun (4)

nip (plural nips)

  1. (Northwestern, Ontario, Manitoba) A hamburger.

Proper noun capitalized: NIP

NIP

  1. (US, abbreviation) Abbreviation of National Immunization Program.
  2. (UK, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Northern Independence Party.

Noun (5) capitalized: NIP

NIP (plural NIPs)

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of non-native invasive plant.
  2. (UK, abbreviation) Abbreviation of notice of intended prosecution.

Adjective (1) capitalized: NIP

NIP (not comparable)

  1. (abbreviation, classified ads) Abbreviation of new in package.

Noun (6) capitalized: Nip

Nip (plural Nips)

  1. (dated, ethnic, offensive, slang, slur) A Japanese person.
    • CHUNGKING, Oct. 10—Chinese counterblows against the Japanese offensive in south China have reeled the Nips back from two towns in the approaches to Kweilin, capital city of Kwangsi Province, today’s Chinese High Command communique announced.1944 October 11, “Sino Counterblows Send Nips Reeling”, in The Stars and Stripes Mediterranean, Italy, →OCLC, page 1
    Synonyms:
    Jap

Adjective (2) capitalized: Nip

Nip (not comparable)

  1. (dated, ethnic, offensive, slang, slur) Japanese.

Also used as

nip is also the alternative spelling of Nip.

nip meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam

nip in Tamil

நிப் செய்ய

nip in Bengali

নিপি করার জন্য, নিপি করতে

nip in Telugu

నిప్ చేయడానికి, నిప్ చెయ్యడానికి

nip in Malayalam

നിപ്പ് ചെയ്യാൻ, നിപ് ചെയ്യാൻ
More languagesFewer languages
nip in Kannada
ನಿಪ್ ಮಾಡಲು, ನಿಪ್ಪಿಂಗ್ ಮಾಡಲು, ನಿಪ್ಗೆ
nip in Punjabi
ਨਿੱਪ ਕਰਨਾ, ਨਿੱਪ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
nip in Gujarati
નિપીંગ કરવા માટે
nip in Odia
ନିପ୍ କରିବା, ନିପ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ, ନିପ୍ କରିବାକୁ
nip in Nepali
निपी गर्न, निप गर्न, निप्प गर्न

Examples of nip in a sentence

  • "For nipping Antonio's fruit?" demanded Limpet, astonished into a normal attitude on both feet.1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 160:
  • Palace made it 3-1 on 81 minutes, Nketiah nipping in to finish nicely, then doing a no-celebration pose in front of the away fans.2025 January 3, Barney Ronay, “Crystal Palace through after Millwall keeper’s red for head-high tackle on Mateta”, in The Guardian:

All 40 example sentences with nip

Synonyms of nip

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of nip

Forms of nip

Verb
third-person singular presentnips
present participlenipping
past participlenipped
pastnipped
alternative formgnip
alternative formknip
Noun
pluralnips
pluralNIPs

Past tense of nip: nipped

Plural of nip: nips

Origin of nip

From late Middle English nippen, probably of Low German or Dutch origin, probably a byform of earlier *knippen (suggested by the derivative Middle English knippette (“pincers”)), from Middle Low German knîpen, from Old Saxon *knīpan, from Proto-West Germanic *knīpan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *knīpaną (“to pinch”). Related to Dutch nijpen, knijpen (“to pinch”), Danish nive (“pinch”); Swedish nypa (“pinch”); Low German knipen; German kneipen and kneifen (“to pinch, cut off, nip”), Old Norse hnippa (“to prod, poke”); Lithuanian knebti.

Short for nipperkin, ultimately from Middle Low German nippen or Middle Dutch nipen ("to sip; nip"; > Dutch nippen). Compare also German nippen (“to sip; taste”).

Clipping of nipple.

Words formed from nip

Phrases with nip

Words that rhyme with nip

39 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about nip

What does nip mean?
Nip means to catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.
What is nip in Tamil?
Nip in Tamil is நிப் செய்ய. See Nip meaning in Tamil.
How do you use nip in a sentence?
"For nipping Antonio's fruit?" demanded Limpet, astonished into a normal attitude on both feet.
What part of speech is nip?
Nip can be a verb, a noun, a proper noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce nip?
Nip is pronounced /nɪp/.
What is the past tense of nip?
The past tense of nip is nipped.

Words near nip in the dictionary

  1. Niort
  2. NIOSH
  3. niosomal
  4. niosome
  5. niosomes
  6. nip
  7. nip and tuck
  8. nip and tucks
  9. nip at
  10. nip in the bud
  11. nip in the butt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nip (page history and authors); NIP (page history and authors); Nip (page history and authors); nip (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nip (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nip (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nip (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nip (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nip (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nip (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nip (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nip (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-nip.ogg.

Cite this entry: “nip.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nip. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.