nick

[nik]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR nick ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small notch, groove, chip, or the like, cut into or existing in something.

a hollow place produced in an edge or surface, as of a dish, by breaking, chipping, or the like: I didn't notice those tiny nicks in the vase when I bought it.

a small dent or wound.

a small groove on one side of the shank of a printing type, serving as a guide in setting or to distinguish different types.

Biochemistry. a break in one strand of a double-stranded DNA or RNA molecule.

British Slang. prison.

verb (used with object)

to cut into or through: I nicked my chin while shaving.

to hit or injure slightly.

to make a nick or nicks in (something); notch, groove, or chip.

to record by means of a notch or notches.

to incise certain tendons at the root of (a horse's tail) to give it a higher carrying position; make an incision under the tail of (a horse).

to hit, guess, catch, etc., exactly.

Slang. to trick, cheat, or defraud: How much did they nick you for that suit?

British Slang.

to arrest (a criminal or suspect).
to capture; nab.
to steal: Someone nicked her pocketbook on the bus.

Idioms

in the nick of time, at the right or vital moment, usually at the last possible moment: The fire engines arrived in the nick of time.

Origin of nick

1475–85; obscurely akin to Old English gehnycned wrinkled, Old Norse hnykla to wrinkle

Related formsun·nicked, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for nicked

knock, cut, indent, dent, damage, mark, slit, score, dint, jag, mill, notch, scar

Examples from the Web for nicked

Contemporary Examples of nicked

Nothing vital has been damaged, but a major artery was nicked.
New 'Suspended Animation' Procedure Saves Lives by Replacing Blood with a Cold Electrolyte Solution
Elizabeth Lopatto
April 2, 2014

Historical Examples of nicked

The third man threw three nicked surfaces, and took the pool.
Despair's Last Journey
David Christie Murray
I nicked him on one wrist, and had to duck to escape his wild swing at my head.
Out Around Rigel
Robert H. Wilson
Maquoit was a straggling hamlet at the head of a cove which nicked the coast-line.
Blow The Man Down
Holman Day
Had the dainty Glory in all her life eaten from a nicked plate?
Glory and the Other Girl
Annie Hamilton Donnell
Being bent and nicked, the precision of the apparatus was destroyed.
Space Platform
Murray Leinster

British Dictionary definitions for nicked

nick

noun

a small notch or indentation on an edge or surface

a groove on the shank of a printing type, used to orientate type and often to distinguish the fount

British a slang word for prison, police station

in good nick informal in good condition

in the nick of time at the last possible moment; at the critical moment

verb

(tr) to chip or cut

(tr) slang, mainly British

to steal
to take into legal custody; arrest

(intr often foll by off) informal to move or depart rapidly

to divide and reset (certain of the tail muscles of a horse) to give the tail a high carriage

(tr) to guess, catch, etc, exactly

(intr) (of breeding stock) to mate satisfactorily

nick someone for US and Canadian slang to defraud someone to the extent of

Word Origin for nick

C15: perhaps changed from C14 nocke nock

nick

noun

computing an alias adopted by a member of a chatroom or forum; nickname

Word Origin for nick

short for nickname

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for nicked

nick

1520s, "to make a notch in," from nick (n.). Sense of "to steal" is from 1869, probably from earlier slang sense of "to catch, take unawares, arrest" (1620s). The precise sense connection is unclear. Related: Nicked; nicking.

Nick

masc. proper name, familiar form of Nicholas. As "the devil" by 1640s, but the reason for it is obscure.

nick

"notch, groove, slit," late 15c., nyke, of unknown origin, possibly influenced by Middle French niche (see niche), or from it. Nick of time is first attested 1640s (nick of opportunity is 1610s), possibly from an old custom of recording time as it passed by making notches on a tally stick, though nick in the general sense of "critical moment" is older (1570s, Hanmer, who adds "as commonly we say") than the phrase.

Idioms and Phrases with nicked

nick

see in the nick of time.