I. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English nicken, from Old English niccan, from nic, nicc, adverb, not I, no, contraction of ne not + -ic I — more at no , i
: to say nay to : deny
II. ˈnik noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English nyke, probably alteration of nocke nock — more at nock
1.
a. : a cut made or occurring in a surface or edge : notch ; usually : a small sharp-edged cut made typically with one blow or stroke and without intention
the razor had bad nicks
nicks in the table
b. chiefly Scotland : a gap or slight opening in a range of hills
c. : a notch on the belly of a piece of type — compare groove ; see type illustration
2.
a. archaic : a cut (as in a stick) serving as a tally
b. obsolete : reckoning , account
c. : a particular point or place considered as marked by a cut : a precise or critical moment
help came in the nick of time
d.
[from the obsolete phrase nick and froth ]
obsolete : a false bottom in a beer mug
3.
a. : the exact mark aimed at
just what he needed, mum; it was in the nick — Joyce Cary
his rejoinder hit the nick
b. : the junction line of wall and floor in court tennis, squash, handball
c.
[ nick (III) (to breed)]
: an individual superior to either parent ; also : a mating that produces such offspring
4. : the sound produced by a slight or brief impact : tick
5. Australia : physical condition : shape
in great nick
6.
a. also nick point : a place of abrupt change in a stream gradient
b. : a sharp angle cut at the base of a cliff (as by waves and currents or by shore ice) — compare nip 5
III. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1.
a. : to make a nick in : notch
nick a tree
nick a steel bar before sawing
b. : to injure by denting or chipping the surface or edge of
nick a knife blade
nick a china cup
nick a table leg
2.
a. : to score by making a nick on a tally
b. : to jot down : record , score
3. obsolete : to tally with : correspond to : copy closely
4.
[partly short for nickname (II) ]
obsolete : to fix a fitting name upon : nickname
5. obsolete
a. : to provide (a beer mug) with a false bottom
b. : cheat , defraud
6.
a. : to cut off or cut out : cut short
cold weather nicked steel and automobile output — Time
b. : to cut into slightly : wound lightly
bullet nicked his leg
nicked himself while shaving
c. : to make a crosscut on the underside of (the tail of a horse) to effect a higher carrying position : cut beneath the tail of (a horse)
7. : to hit, grasp, or catch precisely at the right point or time
nick an opportunity
nick a secret
nick a train
8.
a. slang Britain : to catch off guard : arrest
b. slang Britain : steal
c. : to take from as payment or loan : charge
complained they were being nicked as high as $30 a ton more for special steels — Time
intransitive verb
1. : to make petty attacks : snipe , hack
people who nick at the American system — Saturday Review
2. of a ball in court games : to strike the wall and floor simultaneously
3. : to outrun and take the inner course from another (as in racing) : cut in
4. : to complement one another genetically : breed together and produce offspring of good quality
IV. transitive verb
: to produce a nick in (DNA)
V. noun
1. slang Britain : jail ; also : police station
2. : a break in one strand of two-stranded DNA caused by a missing phosphodiester bond