Adjacent Words

Nick definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NICK, n. In the northern mythology, an evil spirit of the saters; hence the modern vulgar phrase, Old Nick, the evil one.
NICK, n. [G. The nape; a continual nodding. The word seems to signify a point, from shooting forward.]
1. The exact point of time required by necessity or convenience; the critical time.
2. [G. knick, a flaw.] A notch or score for keeping an account; a reckoning.
3. A winning throw.
NICK, v.t.
1. To hit; to touch luckily; to perform by a slight artifice used at the lucky time.
The just reason of doing things must be nicked, and all accidents improved.
2. To cut in nicks or notches. [See Notch]
3. To suit, as lattices cut in nicks.
4. To defeat or cozen, as at dice; to disappoint by some trick or unexpected turn.
NICK, v.t. [G. knicken, to flaw.] To notch or make an incision in a horses tail, to make him carry it higher.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an impression in a surface (as made by a blow) [syn: dent, ding, gouge, nick]
2: (British slang) a prison; "he's in the nick"
3: a small cut [syn: notch, nick, snick] v
1: cut slightly, with a razor; "The barber's knife nicked his cheek" [syn: nick, snick]
2: cut a nick into [syn: nick, chip]
3: divide or reset the tail muscles of; "nick horses"
4: mate successfully; of livestock

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English nyke, probably alteration of nocke nock Date: 15th century 1. a. a small notch, groove, or chip b. a small cut or wound c. a break in one strand of two-stranded DNA caused by a missing phosphodiester bond 2. a final critical moment <in the nick of time> 3. slang British prison; also police station 4. British condition <in good nick> II. verb Date: 1523 transitive verb 1. to jot down ; record 2. a. to make a nick in ; notch, chip b. to cut into or wound slightly <nicked himself shaving> 3. to cut short <cold weather, which nicked steel and automobile output — Time> 4. to catch at the right point or time 5. cheat, overcharge 6. a. slang British arrest b. slang British steal intransitive verb 1. to make petty attacks ; snipe 2. to complement one another genetically and produce superior offspring

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. Phrases and idioms: Old Nick the Devil. Etymology: prob. f. a pet-form of the name Nicholas

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 a small cut or notch. 2 Brit. sl. a a prison. b a police station. 3 (prec. by in with adj.) Brit. colloq. condition (in reasonable nick). 4 the junction between the floor and walls in a squash court. --v.tr. 1 make a nick or nicks in. 2 Brit. sl. a steal. b arrest, catch. Phrases and idioms: in the nick of time only just in time; just at the right moment. Etymology: ME: orig. uncert. 2. v.intr. Austral. sl. (foll. by off, in, etc.) move quickly or furtively. Etymology: 19th c.: orig. uncert. (cf. NIP(1) 4)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nick Nick, n. [AS. nicor a marine monster; akin to D. nikker a water spite, Icel. nykr, ONG. nihhus a crocodile, G. nix a water sprite; cf. Gr. ? to wash, Skr. nij. Cf. Nix.] (Northern Myth.) An evil spirit of the waters. Old Nick, the evil one; the devil. [Colloq.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nick Nick, n. [Akin to Nock.] 1. A notch cut into something; as: (a) A score for keeping an account; a reckoning. [Obs.] (b) (Print.) A notch cut crosswise in the shank of a type, to assist a compositor in placing it properly in the stick, and in distribution. --W. Savage. (c) A broken or indented place in any edge or surface; nicks in china. 2. A particular point or place considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment. To cut it off in the very nick. --Howell. This nick of time is the critical occasion for the gainger of a point. --L'Estrange.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nick Nick, v. t. To nickname; to style. [Obs.] For Warbeck, as you nick him, came to me. --Ford.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nick Nick, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nicked; p. pr. & vb. n. Nicking.] 1. To make a nick or nicks in; to notch; to keep count of or upon by nicks; as, to nick a stick, tally, etc. 2. To mar; to deface; to make ragged, as by cutting nicks or notches in. And thence proceed to nicking sashes. --Prior. The itch of his affection should not then Have nicked his captainship. --Shak. 3. To suit or fit into, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with. Words nicking and resembling one another are applicable to different significations. --Camden. 4. To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time. The just season of doing things must be nicked, and all accidents improved. --L'Estrange. 5. To make a cross cut or cuts on the under side of (the tail of a horse, in order to make him carry ir higher).

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(nicks, nicking, nicked) 1. If someone nicks something, they steal it. (BRIT INFORMAL) He smashed a window to get in and nicked a load of silver cups... = pinch VERB: V n 2. If the police nick someone, they arrest them. (BRIT INFORMAL) The police nicked me for carrying an offensive weapon... Keep quiet or we'll all get nicked. VERB: V n, get/be V-ed 3. If you nick something or nick yourself, you accidentally make a small cut in the surface of the object or your skin. When I pulled out of the space, I nicked the rear bumper of the car in front of me... He dropped a bottle in the kitchen and nicked himself on broken glass. VERB: V n, V pron-refl 4. A nick is a small cut made in the surface of something, usually in someone's skin. The barbed wire had left only the tiniest nick just below my right eye. N-COUNT 5. If you are nicked by someone, they cheat you, for example by charging you too much money. (AM INFORMAL) College students already are being nicked, but probably don't realize it. = rip off VERB: be V-ed 6. Nick is used in expressions such as 'in good nick' or 'in bad nick' to describe the physical condition of someone or something. (BRIT INFORMAL) His ribs were damaged, but other than that he's in good nick... Tom's house is actually in better nick than mine. PHRASE: v-link PHR 7. If you say that something happens in the nick of time, you are emphasizing that it happens at the last possible moment. Seems we got here just in the nick of time... = just in time PHRASE: usu PHR after v [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Critical point (of time), critical moment, fortunate conjuncture. 2. Notch, dent, dint, indentation, incision, score. II. v. a. Notch.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Old nick; the Devil.

Moby Thesaurus

Vandyke, appropriate, arrest, ascender, back, bastard type, beard, beat it, belly, bevel, birthmark, black letter, blaze, blaze a trail, blemish, blotch, body, brand, cabbage, cap, capital, case, cast, caste mark, chalk, chalk up, check, check off, checkmark, chip, chop, cicatrix, cicatrize, cleft, clout, collar, counter, crap, craps, crena, crenellate, crenulate, crimp, cut, dapple, dash, defect, define, delimit, demarcate, dent, depart, depression, descender, discolor, discoloration, dot, earmark, em, en, engrave, engraving, face, fat-faced type, feet, flaw, fleck, flick, font, freckle, gash, gouge, graving, groove, hack, hatch, hook, impress, imprint, incise, incision, indent, indentation, indenture, italic, jag, jog, joggle, jot, kerf, knurl, lentigo, letter, ligature, line, logotype, lower case, machicolate, macula, majuscule, make a mark, make off with, make tracks, mark, mark off, mark out, marking, mill, minuscule, mole, mottle, nab, nail, natural, nevus, nip, nock, notch, patch, pencil, pepper, pi, pica, picot, pinch, pink, point, police station, polka dot, prick, print, punch, punctuate, puncture, purloin, riddle, roll, roman, sans serif, scallop, scar, scarification, scarify, score, scotch, scratch, scratching, script, seal, seam, serrate, shank, shot, shoulder, slash, small cap, small capital, speck, speckle, splash, splotch, spot, stain, stamp, steal, stem, stigma, stigmatize, strawberry mark, streak, striate, stripe, take, take in, take off, tattoo, tattoo mark, throw, tick, tick off, tittle, tooth, trace, type, type body, type class, type lice, typecase, typeface, typefounders, typefoundry, underline, underscore, upper case, watermark