What does "nick" mean?
A small cut in a surface.; A particular place or point considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.
Nick
/nɪk/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A small cut in a surface.; A particular place or point considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.
- Grammar: nick is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: dent, notch, appropriate, arrest.
- Useful contrasts: birth name, freedom, heal.
- Usage evidence: Nick complained to me about the high prices in Tokyo.
How to use "nick"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "nick" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "nick" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small cut in a surface.; A particular place or point considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment. archaic
"in the nick of time"
- 2 Clipping of nickname. Internet, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
"a user’s reserved nick on an IRC network"
- 3 A nix or nixie (“water spirit”). archaic
"[A]midst Ahriman and his hosts who had now established themselves in the Occident, and as heirs to the horns and tails of Pans and fauns, a crowd of native spirits moved; imps, giants, trolls, forest-spirits, elves and hobgoblins in and on the earth; nicks, river-sprites in the water, fiends in the air, and salamanders in the fire."
- 4 a small cut wordnet
- 5 A small cut in a surface.; A notch cut crosswise in the shank of a type, to assist a compositor in placing it properly in the stick, and in distribution. dated
"A nick is a hollow cast crossways in the shanks of types, to make a distinction readily between differnt sorts and sizes; and to enable the compositor to perceive quickly the bottom of the letter as it lies in the case, when composing; as nicks are always cast on that side of the shank on which the bottom of the face of the letter is placed. A great deal of inconvenience frequently arises, owing to the founders casting different founts of types with a similar nick in each."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 (British slang) a prison wordnet
- 7 Senses connoting something small.; A small deflection of the ball off the edge of the bat, often going to the wicket-keeper for a catch.
"Just as a judge may mistakenly believe in the credibility of a clever liar, thereby reaching an 'incorrect decision', an umpire dealing with the blur of a fast bowler and listening for a nick of the bat, or lifting his eyes quickly from the bowler's front foot to follow the flight and pitch of the ball to determine if the batter is out LBW [leg before wicket], can easily be mistaken."
- 8 an impression in a surface (as made by a blow) wordnet
- 9 Senses connoting something small.; One of the single-stranded DNA segments produced during nick translation.
"Analysis of the effect of temperature on the polymerization reaction with nicked and gapped DNA substrates in Mn²⁺ (8) [...] reveals identical values of activation energy (Eₐ) and Q₁₀, indicating that the frequency of productive interactions of polymerase β with 3′-hydroxyl termini at nicks and gaps is indistinguishable and suggesting that localized destabilization of the 5′-terminated DNA strand at the nick site does not contribute significantly to the rate-determining step(s) of the synthetic reaction."
- 10 Senses connoting something small.; The point where the wall of the court meets the floor.
"Spin is a major feature of real tennis – because of it, some of the slowest shots can be the hardest to return. [...] Strokes played into the "nick" (the corner of the floor and the wall) and aggressive drives into the dedans, the winning gallery, or the grille are unreturnable."
- 11 Often in the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition, state. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial
"The car I bought was cheap and in good nick."
- 12 A police station or prison. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang
"He was arrested and taken down to Sun Hill nick [police station] to be charged."
Verb
- 1 To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way. transitive
"I nicked myself while I was shaving."
- 2 To give or call (someone) by a nickname; to style. obsolete, transitive
"For Warbecke as you nicke him, came to me / Commended by the States of Chriſtendome."
- 3 mate successfully; of livestock wordnet
- 4 To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way.; To make ragged or uneven, as by cutting nicks or notches in; to deface, to mar. transitive
"The itch of his Affection ſhould not then / Haue nickt his Captain-ſhip, at ſuch a point, / When halfe to halfe the world oppos'd, he being / The meered queſtion?"
- 5 divide or reset the tail muscles of wordnet
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way.; To make a crosscut or cuts on the underside of (the tail of a horse, in order to make the animal carry it higher). rare, transitive
"The barbarous custom of docking and nicking the tail, and cutting the ears of horses, is too prevalent. [...] [I]n the loss of their tail, they find even a still greater inconvenience. During summer they are perpetually teazed with swarms of insects that either attempt to suck their blood or deposit their eggs in the rectum, which they have no means of lashing off; and in winter they are deprived of a necessary defence against the cold. [From the Boston Yankee.]"
- 7 cut a nick into wordnet
- 8 To fit into or suit, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with. obsolete, transitive
"An Alluſion is as it were a dalliance or playing with words, like in ſound, vnlike in ſense, by changing, adding, or ſubtracting a letter or two; ſo that words nicking and reſembling one the other, are appliable to diffrent ſignifications."
- 9 cut slightly, with a razor wordnet
- 10 To fit into or suit, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.; To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time. figuratively, obsolete, sometimes, transitive
"[I]t requires a Critical Nicety both of Wit, and of Judgment, to find out the Genius, or the Propenſions, of a Child, […] The Juſt Seaſon of Doing Things must be Nick'd, and All Accidents Obſerv'd and Improv'd; for Weak Minds are to be as Narrowly Attended, as Sickly Bodies: […]"
- 11 To fit into or suit, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.; To hit the ball with the edge of the bat and produce a fine deflection. obsolete, transitive
"Two balls later, I nick one and it carries beautifully to Peter Bowler at first slip, a complete dolly catch, and he drops it."
- 12 To fit into or suit, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.; To throw or turn up (a number when playing dice); to hit upon. obsolete, transitive
"My old luck: I never nick'd ſeven that I did not throw ames ace three times following."
- 13 To make a cut at the side of the face. transitive
"A practice then prevailed of blasting without nicking the side of the place which still continues and of conducting the current of air too far by means of brattice, to both of which practices I raised a strong objection. They admitted their inability to make the men nick the coal as they formerly did and thought the application of brattice could not be properly defined, but that it should be left to the discretion of the manager of each particular mine as to the distance openings should be made apart between the intake and return air courses."
- 14 To steal. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial, transitive
"Someone’s nicked my bike!"
- 15 To arrest. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang, transitive
"The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he’d broken into."
Proper Noun
- 1 A diminutive of the male given name Nicholas.
"His name is Nick. I love it. It makes him seem nice, and regular, which he is. When he tells me his name, I say, 'Now, that's a real name.'"
Example
"Nick complained to me about the high prices in Tokyo."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "nick"?
Common synonyms include: dent, notch, appropriate, arrest, ascender, back.
How do you use "nick" in a sentence?
Nick complained to me about the high prices in Tokyo.
How do you pronounce "nick"?
Pronounced /nɪk/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
The noun is derived from Late Middle English nik (“notch, tally; nock of an arrow”). Its further etymology is unknown; a connection with nock (“notch in a bow to hold the bowstring; notch at the rear of an arrow that fits the bowstring; cleft in the buttocks”) has not been clearly established. The verb appears to be derived from the noun, though the available evidence shows that some of the verb senses predate the noun senses. No connection with words in Germanic languages such as Danish nikke (“to nod”), Middle Dutch nicken (“to bend; to bow”) (modern Dutch knikken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German nicken (“to bend over; to sink”), Middle High German nicken (“to bend; to depress”) (modern German nicken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German knicken (“to bend; to snap”) (modern German knicken (“to bend; to break”), Old Frisian hnekka (“to nod”), and Swedish nicka (“to nod”), has been clearly established.
Etymology 2
From nick(name).
Etymology 3
A variant of nix or nixie.