Word.ws English Dictionary

nipperkin

nipperkin noun: a small cup or other vessel, of perhaps 1/8 pint in volume.

Noun

nipperkin (plural nipperkins)

  1. (archaic) A small cup or other vessel, of perhaps 1/8 pint in volume.
  2. (archaic) A small amount of beer, wine, or other liquid, of perhaps 1/8 pint in volume.
    • [L]et Tim send the ale and the sack, and the nipperkin of double-distilled, with a bit of diet-loaf, or some such trinket, and score it to the new comer.1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume II (in English), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson...

Forms of nipperkin

pluralnipperkins

Origin of nipperkin

Probably from nip (“a dram or sip”) + -er + -kin as in kilderkin.

Questions about nipperkin

What does nipperkin mean?
Nipperkin means a small cup or other vessel, of perhaps 1/8 pint in volume.
What part of speech is nipperkin?
Nipperkin is a noun.
What is the plural of nipperkin?
The plural of nipperkin is nipperkins.

Words near nipperkin in the dictionary

  1. nipped in the butt
  2. nipper
  3. Nipper's Harbour
  4. nippered
  5. nippering
  6. nipperkin
  7. nipperkins
  8. nippers
  9. Nippes
  10. nippeth
  11. nippie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nipperkin (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.

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