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Webster 1913 Edition

Nick

Nick

(nĭk)
,
Noun.
[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.
νίπτειν
to wash, Skr.
nij
. Cf.
Nix
.]
(Northern Myth.)
An evil spirit of the waters.
Old Nick
,
the evil one; the devil.
[Colloq.]

Nick

,
Noun.
[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.
2.
Hence:
A broken or indented place in any edge or surface;
as,
nicks
in a china plate; a
nick
in the table top
.
3.
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 gaining of a point.
L’Estrange.

Nick

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Nicked
(nĭkt)
;
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.
And thence proceed to
nicking
sashes.
Prior.
The itch of his affection should not then
Have
nicked
his captainship.
Shakespeare
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 it higher).

Nick

,
Verb.
T.
To nickname; to style.
[Obs.]
For Warbeck, as you
nick
him, came to me.
Ford.

Webster 1828 Edition

Nick

NICK

,
Noun.
In the northern mythology, an evil spirit of the saters; hence the modern vulgar phrase, Old Nick, the evil one.

NICK

,
Noun.
[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

,
Verb.
T.
[G. knicken, to flaw.] To notch or make an incision in a horses tail, to make him carry it higher.

Definition 2025

Nick

Nick

See also: nick

English

Proper noun

Nick

  1. A diminutive of the male given name Nicholas.
  2. diminutive form of Nickelodeon.

Derived terms

Translations

Danish

Proper noun

Nick

  1. A male given name, diminutive of Niklas, Nicolai and related names.

German

Proper noun

Nick

  1. A male given name, diminutive of Nikolaus and related names.

nick

nick

See also: Nick

English

Noun

nick ‎(plural nicks)

  1. A small cut in a surface.
    1. (now rare) A particular point or place considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.
      in the nick of time
      • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.20:
        Truely he flies when he is even upon the nicke, and naturally hasteneth to escape it, as from a step whereon he cannot stay or containe himselfe, and feareth to sinke into it.
      • Howell
        to cut it off in the very nick
    2. (printing, dated) A notch cut crosswise in the shank of a type, to assist a compositor in placing it properly in the stick, and in distribution.
      (Can we find and add a quotation of W. Savage to this entry?)
  2. Meanings connoting something small.
    1. (cricket) A small deflection of the ball off the edge of the bat, often going to the wicket-keeper for a catch.
    2. (real tennis) The point where the wall of the court meets the floor.
    3. (genetics) One of the single-stranded DNA segments produced during nick translation.
  3. (archaic) A nixie, or water-sprite.
    • 1879, Viktor Rydberg, The Magic of the Middle Ages (p.201)
      […] imps, giants, trolls, forest-spirits, elves and hobgoblins in and on the earth; nicks, river-sprites in the water, fiends in the air, and salamanders in the fire.
  4. (Britain, slang) In the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition.
    The car I bought was cheap and in good nick.
    • 2014 July 20, Jane Gardam, “Give us a bishop in high heels [print version: “Give us a high-heeled bishop”, International New York Times, 22 July 2014, p. 11]”, in The New York Times:
      [F]urther south in Kent, there was St. Mildred, whose mother, in 670, founded the minster that still stands there in good nick, with nine nuns who are an ever-present help in trouble to all religions and none.
  5. (Britain, slang) A police station or prison.
    He was arrested and taken down to Sun Hill nick [police station] to be charged.
    He's just been released from Shadwell nick [prison] after doing ten years for attempted murder.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

nick ‎(third-person singular simple present nicks, present participle nicking, simple past and past participle nicked)

  1. (transitive) To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way.
    I nicked myself while I was shaving.
    1. To make a cross cut or cuts on the underside of (the tail of a horse, in order to make the animal carry it higher).
    2. To mar; to deface; to make ragged, as by cutting nicks or notches in.
      • Prior
        And thence proceed to nicking sashes.
      • Shakespeare
        The itch of his affection should not then / Have nicked his captainship.
  2. To suit or fit into, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.
    • Camden
      Words nicking and resembling one another are applicable to different significations.
    1. To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time.
      • L'Estrange
        The just season of doing things must be nicked, and all accidents improved.
    2. To throw or turn up (a number when playing dice); to hit upon.
      • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer:
        My old luck: I never nicked seven that I did not throw ames ace three times following.
    3. (transitive, cricket) to hit the ball with the edge of the bat and produce a fine deflection
  3. (transitive, slang) To steal.
    Someone's nicked my bike!
  4. (transitive, Britain, slang) To arrest.
    The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he'd broken into.
Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

nick ‎(plural nicks)

  1. (Internet) Short for nickname.
    a user's reserved nick on an IRC network
    • 1995, Donald Rose, Internet Chat quick tour
      Changes your nickname — the name by which other IRCers see and refer to you — to anything you'd like (but remember that nine characters is the maximum nick length).
    • 2014, Josh Datko, BeagleBone for Secret Agents
      Also, ERC, like Emacs, is extremely modular and flexible. It is, of course, a free software program, but there are also many existing modules from nick highlighting to autoaway that you can use.

Verb

nick ‎(third-person singular simple present nicks, present participle nicking, simple past and past participle nicked)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To nickname; to style.
    • Ford
      For Warbeck, as you nick him, came to me.

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /nɪk/
  • Rhymes: -ɪk

Verb

nick

  1. Imperative singular of nicken.
  2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of nicken.

Kashubian

Pronoun

nick

  1. nothing

Swedish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

nick c

  1. nod (movement of the head to indicate agreement)
  2. header (in football)
Declension
Inflection of nick 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative nick nicken nickar nickarna
Genitive nicks nickens nickars nickarnas
Synonyms
  • (header): nickning c
  • (nod): nickning c
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From the English nickname

Noun

nick n

  1. (slang) nick, nickname
Declension
Inflection of nick 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative nick nicket nick nicken
Genitive nicks nickets nicks nickens

Etymology

From a variation of nock. Compare German Knick ‎(“a flaw, defect”); German knicken ‎(“to crack”). Also partly from Middle English nicken, nikken ‎(“to nod; wink”), an intensive form of Old English hnīgan ‎(“to bend, bow down, incline, descend, decline, sink”), from Proto-Germanic *hnīganą, *hnīwaną ‎(“to bow, tilt, slant, slope, incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *kneygʷʰ- ‎(“to bend, bow”), from *ken- ‎(“to press, pinch, kink”). Cognate with Old Frisian hnekka ‎(“to nod”), Dutch nikken ‎(“to nod”), German nicken ‎(“to nod; kink”), Danish nikke ‎(“to nod”), Swedish nicka ‎(“to nod”). The sense "point in time", "point marked" is from a conflation of the "notch" and the "wink" (i.e. "moment") senses.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /nɪk/
  • Homophone: Nick
  • Rhymes: -ɪk

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