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nipping |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Nip \Nip\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Nipped}, less properly {Nipt}; p. pr & vb n. {Nipping}.] [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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Nipping \Nip"ping\, a. Biting; pinching; painful; destructive; as a nipping frost; a nipping wind. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: nipping adj 1: capable of wounding; "a barbed compliment"; "a biting aphorism"; "pungent satire" [syn: {barbed}, {biting}, {pungent}] 2: pleasantly cold and invigorating; "crisp clear nights and frosty mornings"; "a nipping wind"; "a nippy fall day"; "snappy weather"; (`parky' is a British term) [syn: {crisp}, {frosty}, {nippy}, {snappy}, {parky}]
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