nim1
[nim]
- to steal or pilfer.
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Origin of nim1
before 900; Middle English nimen, Old English niman, cognate with German nehmen, Old Norse nema, Gothic niman to take; cf. numb
nim2
[nim]
- 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.
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Origin of nim2
First recorded in 1900–05; special use of nim1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for nim
Contemporary Examples
When she got him, she just decided she was going to have fun with Nim.
There, Nim lived out the rest of his days, dying in 2000 at age 26 from a heart attack.
There, Nim met Bob Ingersoll, a high-spirited University of Oklahoma student who worked at the facility.
A documentary film based on her recent book, Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human , will be released next year.
Historical Examples
I venture to add, with all possible energy of asseveration, that I did that thing, Nim.
QuodlibetJohn 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 PlaysRobert Dodsley
They're all out lookin' for you—Nim, an' the whole "Corner" bodily.
Cedar CreekElizabeth Hely Walshe
But Nim had made off among the trees, grinning in every long tooth.
Cedar CreekElizabeth Hely Walshe
I ken he has his eye on Daisy Burn for Nim, ever sin' he saw the captain.
Cedar CreekElizabeth Hely Walshe
nim
- 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
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for nim
v.
"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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper