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Nimble

//ˈnɪmbl̩// adj, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Adept at taking or grasping.

    "nimble fingers"

  2. 2
    Quick and light in movement or action.

    "He was too nimble for the assailant and easily escaped his grasp."

  3. 3
    Quickwitted and alert.

    "He has a nimble mind and can improvise in any situation."

Adjective
  1. 1
    moving quickly and lightly wordnet
  2. 2
    mentally quick wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To move nimbly. intransitive

    "Their teeth are regularly and assiduously cleaned by shrimp that nimble in and out of the moray's mouth like ballet dancers in the jaws of a mechanical stage dragon."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English nymyl, nemel, nemyll, nymell (“agile, quick, ready, able, capable”), merger of Old English nǣmel (“receptive, quick to grasp”) and Old English numol (“able to take, capable of holding”), both from niman (“to take”) + -el, -ol (associative suffix), corresponding to nim + -le. Compare German nehmen, Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (niman), Old Norse nema (“to take”). More at nim.

Etymology 2

From Middle English nymyl, nemel, nemyll, nymell (“agile, quick, ready, able, capable”), merger of Old English nǣmel (“receptive, quick to grasp”) and Old English numol (“able to take, capable of holding”), both from niman (“to take”) + -el, -ol (associative suffix), corresponding to nim + -le. Compare German nehmen, Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (niman), Old Norse nema (“to take”). More at nim.

See also for "nimble"

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