Nip (?), n. [LG. & D. nippen to
sip; akin to Dan. nippe, G. nippen.] A sip or
small draught; esp., a draught of intoxicating liquor; a
dram.
Nip, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Nipped (?), less properly Nipt; p.
pr. & vb. n. Nipping (?).] [OE. nipen; cf. D.
niipen to pinch, also knippen to nip, clip, pinch,
snap, knijpen to pinch, LG. knipen, G. kneipen,
kneifen, to pinch, cut off, nip, Lith. knebti.]
1. To catch and inclose 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.
Tennyson.
2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting
with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
The small shoots . . . must be nipped
off.
Mortimer.
3. Hence: To blast, as by frost; to check the
growth or vigor of; to destroy.
4. To vex or pain, as by nipping; hence, to
taunt.
And sharp remorse his heart did prick and
nip.
Spenser.
To nip in the bud, to cut off at the
verycommencement of growth; to kill in the incipient stage.
Nip, n. 1. A
seizing or closing in upon; a pinching; as, in the northern seas, the
nip of masses of ice.
2. A pinch with the nails or teeth.
3. A small cut, or a cutting off the
end.
4. A blast; a killing of the ends of plants
by frost.
5. A biting sarcasm; a taunt.
Latimer.
6. (Naut.) A short turn in a
rope.
Nip and tuck, a phrase signifying equality
in a contest. [Low, U.S.]