NIPPING

crisp, frosty, nipping, nippy, snappy

(adjective) pleasantly cold and invigorating; “crisp clear nights and frosty mornings”; “a nipping wind”; “a nippy fall day”; “snappy weather”

barbed, biting, nipping, pungent, mordacious

(adjective) capable of wounding; “a barbed compliment”; “a biting aphorism”; “pungent satire”

NIP

nip

(verb) give a small sharp bite to; “The Queen’s corgis always nip at her staff’s ankles”

nip, nip off, clip, snip, snip off

(verb) sever or remove by pinching or snipping; “nip off the flowers”

pinch, squeeze, twinge, tweet, nip, twitch

(verb) squeeze tightly between the fingers; “He pinched her behind”; “She squeezed the bottle”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Verb

nipping

present participle of nip

Noun

nipping (plural nippings)

The act or sensation of giving a nip.

Source: Wiktionary


Nip"ping, a.

Definition: Biting; pinching; painful; destructive; as, a nipping frost; a nipping wind.

NIP

Nip, n. Etym: [LG. & D. nippen to sip; akin to Dan. nippe, G. nippen.]

Definition: A sip or small draught; esp., a draught of intoxicating liquor; a dram.

Nip, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nipped, less properly Nipt; p. pr. & vb. n. Nipping.] Etym: [OE. nipen; cf. D. niipen to pinch, also knippen to nip, clip, pinch, snap, knijpen to pinch, LG. knipen, G. kneipen, kneifen, to pinch, cut off, nip, Lith. knebti.]

1. To catch and inclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon. May this hard earth cleave to the Nadir hell, Down, down, and close again, and nip me flat, If I be such a traitress. Tennyson.

2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip. The small shoots ... must be nipped off. Mortimer.

3. Hence: To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.

4. To vex or pain, as by nipping; hence, to taunt. And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip. Spenser. To nip in the bud, to cut off at the verycommencement of growth; to kill in the incipient stage.

Nip, n.

1. A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching; as, in the northern seas, the nip of masses of ice.

2. A pinch with the nails or teeth.

3. A small cut, or a cutting off the end.

4. A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.

5. A biting sarcasm; a taunt. Latimer.

6. (Naut.)

Definition: A short turn in a rope. Nip and tuck, a phrase signifying equality in a contest. [Low, U.S.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

30 June 2025

BODILY

(adjective) affecting or characteristic of the body as opposed to the mind or spirit; “bodily needs”; “a corporal defect”; “corporeal suffering”; “a somatic symptom or somatic illness”


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Coffee Trivia

Contrary to popular belief, coffee beans are not technically beans. They are referred to as such because of their resemblance to legumes. A coffee bean is a seed of the Coffea plant and the source for coffee. It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit, often referred to as a cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit.

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