nim

[nim]

verb (used with or without object), nimmed, nim·ming. Archaic.

to steal or pilfer.

Origin of nim

before 900; Middle English nimen, Old English niman, cognate with German nehmen, Old Norse nema, Gothic niman to take; cf. numb

nim

[nim]

noun

a game in which two players alternate in drawing counters, pennies, or the like, from a set of 12 arranged in three rows of 3, 4, and 5 counters, respectively, the object being to draw the last counter, or, sometimes, to avoid drawing it.

Origin of nim

First recorded in 1900–05; special use of nim¹

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

Examples from the Web for nim

Contemporary Examples of nim

When she got him, she just decided she was going to have fun with Nim.
‘Project Nim’: The Stunning New Documentary about Chimpanzees
Marlow Stern
July 9, 2011
There, Nim lived out the rest of his days, dying in 2000 at age 26 from a heart attack.
‘Project Nim’: The Stunning New Documentary about Chimpanzees
Marlow Stern
July 9, 2011
There, Nim met Bob Ingersoll, a high-spirited University of Oklahoma student who worked at the facility.
‘Project Nim’: The Stunning New Documentary about Chimpanzees
Marlow Stern
July 9, 2011
A documentary film based on her recent book, Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human , will be released next year.
Dog Books: Loving Dogs and Michael Vick’s Crimes Reviewed
Elizabeth Hess
November 10, 2010

Historical Examples of nim

I venture to add, with all possible energy of asseveration, that I did that thing, Nim.
Quodlibet
John P. Kennedy
Now, you hemp-strings, had you no time to nim us, but when we were upon our visits?
A Select Collection of Old English Plays
Robert Dodsley
They're all out lookin' for you—Nim, an' the whole "Corner" bodily.
Cedar Creek
Elizabeth Hely Walshe
But Nim had made off among the trees, grinning in every long tooth.
Cedar Creek
Elizabeth Hely Walshe
I ken he has his eye on Daisy Burn for Nim, ever sin' he saw the captain.
Cedar Creek
Elizabeth Hely Walshe

British Dictionary definitions for nim

nim

noun

a game in which two players alternately remove one or more small items, such as matchsticks, from one of several rows or piles, the object being to take (or avoid taking) the last item remaining on the table

Word Origin for nim

C20: perhaps from archaic nim to take, from Old English niman

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 nim

"to take, to steal" (archaic), Old English niman "to take, accept, receive, grasp, catch" (cf. Old Frisian nima, Middle Dutch nemen, German nehmen, Gothic niman; see nimble). The native word, replaced by Scandinavian-derived take (v.) and out of use from c.1500 except in slang sense of "to steal," which endured into 19c.