Definition of "nick"

A small cut in a surface.

1. (now rare) A particular place or point considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.

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

   • […] ſuffred the fatall threed to bee ſpunne out to that length for ſome politique reſpects, and then to cut it off in the very nicke.

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

   • 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.

     1843 December 19, 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, […], page 74

   • 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!

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

2. (printing, dated) A notch cut crosswise in the shank of a type, to assist a compositor in placing it properly in the stick, and in distribution.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1841, William Savage, “NICK”, in A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, page 543

   • The types are of the usual thickness and height. In the centre of each type, in the front, is a deep nick of a dovetail shape, which fits upon a metal edge, so that the type cannot be displaced. But of 111 letters which are required in the fount, each letter has two, three, or four other nicks cut at right angles, the nicks of no one letter being the same as another.

     1862, International Exhibition, 1862. Jurors’ Reports, London: Bell and Daldy, […], class XXVIII, section C (Plate, Letterpress, and Other Modes of Printing), page 3

Senses connoting something small.

1. (cricket) A small deflection of the ball off the edge of the bat, often going to the wicket-keeper for a catch.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2005, David Fraser, “The Man in White is Always Right (but He is Not Always Neutral)”, in Cricket and the Law: The Man in White is Always Right, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 107

2. (genetics) One of the single-stranded DNA segments produced during nick translation.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1981, David Korn, Paul A. Fisher, Teresa S.-F. Wang, “Mechanisms of Catalysis of Human DNA Polymerases α and β”, in Waldo E. Cohn, editor, Progress in Nucleic Acid Research and Molecular Biology, volume 26 (DNA: Multiprotein Interactions), New York, N.Y.: Academic Press, page 66

   • The double-stranded insert and linearized vector are denatured, and the resulting single strands of DNA anneal with their overlapping ends and extend using each other as a template to form double-stranded circular plasmids with only two nicks, one on each single strand. [...] Lastly, the nicks are covalently closed upon transformation into E. coli using its natural repair processes.

     2015, Lesley-Ann Giddings, David J. Newman, “Activating the Expression of Natural Product Biosynthetic Gene Clusters”, in Bioactive Compounds from Extremophiles: Genomic Studies, Biosynthetic Gene Clusters, and New Dereplication Methods (SpringerBriefs in Microbiology), Cham, Switzerland, Heidelberg: Springer, section 2.2 (Heterologous Expression), page 13

   • The nick translation process is simply a replication of DNA in vitro with DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment) and radioactive nucleotide, which becomes incorporated into the duplicated DNA at a nick (break).

     2015, Byong H. Lee, “Concepts and Tools for Recombinant DNA Technology”, in Fundamentals of Food Biotechnology, 2nd edition, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, section 2.2.3 (Purpose of Gene Cloning), pages 172–173

3. (real tennis, squash, racquetball) The point where the wall of the court meets the floor.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2013 September, “Racket Sports”, in Ray Stubbs (editorial consultant), Ed Wilson, editors, The Sports Book: The Sports, the Rules, the Tactics, the Techniques, 4th edition, London: Dorling Kindersley, page 189

(Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Often in the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition, state.  quotations  examples

(Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, law enforcement, slang) A police station or prison.  quotations

(transitive) To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way.  quotations

1. (transitive) To make ragged or uneven, as by cutting nicks or notches in; to deface, to mar.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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?

     c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene xiii], page 356, column 2

   • But, give him port and potent ſack, / From milkſop he ſtarts up Mohack; / Holds that the happy know no hours; / So through the ſtreets at midnight ſcowers, / Breaks watchmen's heads and chairmen's glaſſes, / And thence proceeds to nicking ſaſhes; […]

     c. 1715–1717, Matthew Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind. In Three Cantos”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior, Esq. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], published 1793; republished in Robert Anderson, editor, The Works of the British Poets. […], volume VII, London: Printed for John & Arthur Arch; and for Bell & Bradfute, and J. Mundell & Co. Edinburgh, 1795, canto III, page 466, column 2

2. (transitive, rare) To make a crosscut or cuts on the underside of (the tail of a horse, in order to make the animal carry it higher).  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.]

     1815, Henry Bracken, “Receipts. To Cure the Grease, Surfeits, Loss of Appetite, Cough, Shortness of Breath; to Purify the Blood, and to Fatten Tired and Wasted Horses. [Additional Information.]”, in Taplin Improved; or A Complete Treatise on the Art of Farriery, […], Troy, N.Y.: Printed and sold by Francis Adancourt, […], pages 117–118

   • Nicking a horse has been generally believed to be attended with much difficulty, and to require great ingenuity and art to perform the operation. The nicking alone, is by far the easiest part, as the curing and pullying requires considerable attention and trouble. Nicking is an operation performed for the purpose of making a horse carry an elegant artificial tail, which adds much to his beauty and value.

     1830, Richard Mason, “Nicking”, in The Gentleman’s New Pocket Farrier, Comprising a General Description of the Noble and Useful Animal the Horse; , page 48

(transitive, obsolete) To fit into or suit, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.  quotations

1. (transitive, sometimes figurative) To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [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: […]

     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: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], page 38

2. (transitive, cricket) To hit the ball with the edge of the bat and produce a fine deflection.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Two balls later, I nick one and it carries beautifully to Peter Bowler at first slip, a complete dolly catch, and he drops it.

     2013, Ian Botham, with Dean Wilson, “Steve James – Fine Dining”, in Beefy’s Cricket Tales: My Favourite Stories from On and Off the Field, London: Simon & Schuster, page 145

3. (transitive, gaming) To throw or turn up (a number when playing dice); to hit upon.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: […] F[rancis] Newbery, […], Act III, page 63

   • The points to nick each main have been mentioned before, and the table on dice will show how many chances there are to throw each of these points with 2 dice, which together form the numerator, and 36 (being all the chances on 2 dice) the denominator of the fraction that expresses the probability. If 5 is the main, 5 will be the only nick, and the chances to throw 5 being 4, 4⁄36 is the probability, which is 8 to 1 against nicking 5, and the same against nicking 9.

     , William Rouse, “Problem XXX. What are the Probabilities of Nicking each Main?”, in The Doctrine of Chances, or The Theory of Gaming, Made Easy to Every Person Acquainted with Common Arithmetic, […], London: Printed by Gye & Balne, […], for the author, published by Lackington, Allen & Co. […], page 150

   • 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."

     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., page 304

(transitive, mining) To make a cut at the side of the face.  quotations  examples

(transitive, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To steal.  quotations

(transitive, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, law enforcement, slang) To arrest.  quotations

(Internet) Clipping of nickname.  quotations  examples

(transitive, obsolete) To give or call (someone) by a nickname; to style.  quotations

(archaic) A nix or nixie (“water spirit”).  quotations