• (RP, GA) IPA: /nɪk/

nick (plural nicks)

1. A small cut#Verb|cut in a surface#Noun|surface.
   1. (now, rare) A particular place#Noun|place or point#Noun|point considered as mark#Verb|marked by a nick; the exact#Adjective|exact point or critical moment.

      in the nick of time

      • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “We Taste Nothing Purely”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗, page 389 ↗:

        When I imagin man fraughted with al the commodities may be wiſhed; […] I finde him to ſinke vnder the burthen of his eaſe, and perceive him altogether vnable to beare ſo pure, ſo conſtant, and ſo vniverſall a ſenſualitie. Truely he flies when he is even vpon the nicke, and naturally haſtneth to eſcape it, as from [a] ſtep whereon he cannot ſtay or containe himſelfe, and feareth to ſinke into it.

      • 1640, I. H. [i.e., James Howell], “A Character of Lvrana”, in ΔΕΝΔΡΟΛΟΓΊΑ [DENDROLOGIA]. Dodona’s Grove, or, The Vocall Forrest, London: By T[homas] B[adger] for H. Mosley [i.e., Humphrey Moseley] […], OCLC 987785018 ↗, page 62 ↗:

        {...}} ſuffred the fatall thread#English|threed to bee ſpunne out to that length for ſome politique reſpects, and then to cut it off in the very nicke.

      • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 55746801 ↗, page 74 ↗:

        He felt that he was restored to consciousness in the right nick of time, for the especial purpose of holding a conference with the second messenger despatched to him through Jacob Marley's intervention.

      • 1856, Robert Browning, “‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.’”, in Men and Women, author’s edition, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, OCLC 5857018 ↗, stanza 29, page 104 ↗:

        Here ended, then, / Progress this way. When, in the very nick / Of giving up, one time more, came a click / As when a trap shuts – you're inside the den!

   2. (printing, dated) A notch#Noun|notch cut crosswise in the shank#Noun|shank of a type#Noun|type, to assist#Verb|assist a compositor in place#Verb|placing it properly in the stick#Noun|stick, and in distribution.
2. Senses connoting something small.
   1. (cricket) A small deflection of the ball#Noun|ball off the edge#Noun|edge of the bat#Noun|bat, often going to the wicket-keeper for a catch#Noun|catch.
   2. (genetics) One of the single-stranded DNA segment#Noun|segments produced during nick translation.
   3. (real tennis, squash, racquetball) The point where the wall#Noun|wall of the court#Noun|court meets the floor#Noun|floor.
3. (Britain, slang) In the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition#Noun|condition, state#Noun|state.

   The car I bought was cheap and in good nick.

4. (Britain, law enforcement, slang) A police station#Noun|station or prison.

   He was arrested and taken down to Sun Hill nick [police station] to be charged.

   He’s just been released from Shadwell nick [prison] after doing ten years for attempted murder.

• Russian: щерби́на

• French: poste, taule, zonzon, gnouf, trou

nick (nicks, present participle nicking; past and past participle nicked)

1. (transitive) To make a nick or notch#Noun|notch in; to cut#Verb|cut or scratch#Verb|scratch in a minor#Adjective|minor way.

   I nicked myself while I was shaving.

   1. (transitive) To make ragged#Adjective|ragged or uneven, as by cutting nicks or notches in; to deface, to mar#Verb|mar.
      • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene xiii], page 356 ↗, column 2:

        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?

        The itch of his affection should not then / Have marred his captainship, at such a point, / When half of the world was opposing the other half, he being / the crucial player?

   2. (transitive, rare) To make a crosscut or cut#Noun|cuts on the underside of (the tail#Noun|tail of a horse#Noun|horse, in order to make the animal carry#Verb|carry it high#Adjective|higher).
2. (transitive, obsolete) To fit into or suit#Verb|suit, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally#Verb|tally with.
   • 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], “Allusions”, in Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: Printed by G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, OCLC 1064186951 ↗, page 140 ↗:

     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.

   1. (transitive) To hit#Verb|hit at, or in, the nick; to touch#Verb|touch rightly; to strike#Verb|strike at the precise point or time#Noun|time.
      • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] XXXVIII. A Horse and an Asse. [Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: Printed for R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523 ↗, page 38 ↗:

        [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: {{...}

   2. (transitive, cricket) To hit the ball#Noun|ball with the edge#Noun|edge of the bat#Noun|bat and produce#Verb|produce a fine#Adjective|fine deflection.
   3. (transitive, gaming) To throw#Verb|throw or turn up (a number#Noun|number when play#Verb|playing dice#Noun|dice); to hit upon.
      • 1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: Printed for F[rancis] Newbery, […], OCLC 973672395 ↗, Act III, page 63 ↗:

        My old luck: I never nick'd ſeven that I did not throw ames ace three times following.

      • 1888, “The Jackdaw”, in W[illiam] B[utler] Yeats, editor, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (The Camelot Series), London: Walter Scott, […]; New York, N.Y.: Thomas Whittaker; Toronto, Ont.: W. J. Gage & Co., OCLC 634069 ↗, page 304 ↗:

        Tom Moor was fond of gaming, and often lost large sums of money; finding his business neglected in his absence, he had a small hazard table set up in one corner of his dining-room, and invited a party of his friends to play at it. [...] [O]ne of them being a constant winner, the others would say, "Damn it, how he nicks them."

3. (transitive, mining) To make a cut#Noun|cut at the side#Noun|side of the face#Noun|face.
4. (transitive, Australia, Britain, slang) To steal#Verb|steal.

   Someone’s nicked my bike!

5. (transitive, Britain, law enforcement, slang) To arrest#Verb|arrest.

   The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he’d broken into.

• Russian: надре́зать

• French: piquer
• German: klauen
• Russian: ты́рить

nick (plural nicks)

1. (Internet) Clipping of nickname#English|nickname.

   a user’s reserved nick on an IRC network

nick (nicks, present participle nicking; past and past participle nicked)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To give#Verb|give or call#Verb|call (someone) by a nickname#Verb|nickname; to style#Verb|style.

nick (plural nicks)

1. (archaic) A nix or nixie.

• IPA: /nɪk/

1. A male given name.
   • 2012 Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, Phoenix (2013), ISBN 978-0-7538-2766-6, pages 14-15:

     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.'

• French: Nico