Nip (?), n. [LG. & D. nippen to sip; akin to Dan. nippe, G. nippen.]
A sip or small draught; esp., a draught of intoxicating liquor; a dram.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
A short turn in a rope.
Nip and tuck, a phrase signifying equality in a contest. [Low, U.S.]
© Webster 1913.