nipple

[nip-uh l]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR nipple ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a protuberance of the mamma or breast where, in the female, the milk ducts discharge; teat.

something resembling it, as the mouthpiece of a nursing bottle or pacifier.

a short piece of pipe with threads on each end, used for joining valves.

Origin of nipple

1520–30; earlier neble, nib(b)le, nepil; perhaps akin to nib; compare Danish nip point; see -le

Related formsnip·ple·less, adjective

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

Related Words for nipple

chest, bosom, front, bust, udder, mammilla, teat

Examples from the Web for nipple

Contemporary Examples of nipple

But the Free the Nipple movement needs men, and the men of my generation are all for this cause.
‘Free The Nipple’: (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right to Go Topless
Lizzie Crocker
December 12, 2014
But neither one translates on screen in Free the Nipple, which often feels like a well-produced student film.
‘Free The Nipple’: (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right to Go Topless
Lizzie Crocker
December 12, 2014
I spoke to Allen, who had traveled down from Boston to support a Free The Nipple parade and to check out Boobie Trap.
Women, It's Time to Reclaim Our Breasts
Emily Shire
September 9, 2014
The initial responses to Nipple didn't seem to be so much about the app itself, as much as its terrible grammar.
Why Tracking Hookups and Orgasms Like Footsteps and Calories May Not Provide You with Personal Insight
Emily Shire
March 27, 2014
Nipple also posted the rather regressive question “Did gender equality go to far?”
Why Tracking Hookups and Orgasms Like Footsteps and Calories May Not Provide You with Personal Insight
Emily Shire
March 27, 2014

Historical Examples of nipple

All the slopes of Nipple Top are hirsute and jagged to the last degree.
In the Wilderness
Charles Dudley Warner
There were no flat, or Peento, peaches but a sort known as Venus's Nipple was seemingly a typical beaked peach.
The Peaches of New York
U. P. Hedrick
It was the highest peak in the neighborhood of the coast, and was called the Nipple.
Crusoe's Island: A Ramble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk
John Ross Browne
Saying this, I walked a few steps from the place where we were lying down, to see if there was any way of scaling the Nipple.
Crusoe's Island: A Ramble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk
John Ross Browne

British Dictionary definitions for nipple

nipple

noun

Also called: mamilla, papilla, teat the small conical projection in the centre of the areola of each breast, which in women contains the outlet of the milk ductsRelated adjective: mamillary

something resembling a nipple in shape or function

Also called: grease nipple a small drilled bush, usually screwed into a bearing, through which grease is introduced

US and Canadian an informal word for dummy (def. 11)

Word Origin for nipple

C16: from earlier neble, nible, perhaps from neb, nib

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 nipple

1530s, nyppell, "teat, duct-laden extremity of a mammalian breast," alteration of neble (1520s), probably diminutive of neb "bill, beak, snout" (see neb), hence, literally "a small projection." In reference to an artificial device on an infant's bottle, from 1875. A 16c.-17c. slang term for a woman's nipples was cherrilets.

nipple in Medicine

nipple

[nĭp′əl]

n.

The projection at the apex of the mammary gland, on the surface of which the lactiferous ducts open, surrounded by the circular pigmented areola.mamilla papilla mammae teat thelium

nipple in Science

nipple

[nĭp′əl]

A small projection near the center of the mammary gland. In females, the nipple contains the outlets of the milk ducts.