Definition of "nipper"

Watt saw the little movements of the stuff, the little bulgings and crumplings, and the sudden indrawings, where it was nipped, between forefinger and thumb probably, for those are the nippers.

1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, Olympia Press

Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh?

1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, page 193

SLSA has become a multi-million dollar enterprise comprising 262 clubs located around the Australian coastline, with 100000 members, which included thousands of juniors or 'nippers', as they were more commonly known.

2003 Some Like It Hot: The Beach As a Cultural Dimension

It is the first day of training for a group of ten 'little nippers' (novice surf life-savers). An assortment of children expectantly hover in the clubhouse.

2008, Tania Cassidy, Robyn L. Jones, Paul Potrac, Understanding Sports Coaching: The Social, Cultural and Pedagogical Foundations of Coaching Practice

Every club around Australia offers a Nippers programme. Nippers is open to children from the age of 5 through to 13 years old […]

2009, Didgeridoos and Didgeridon'ts: A Brit 's Guide to Moving Your Life Down Under

The Nippers program, for children aged five to thirteen, promotes water safety skills and confidence in a safe beach environment

October 6, 2011

Of our movement’s 153,000 members, over 58,500 are nippers (5-13 years). This equates to nearly 40% of our total membership and shows just how significant the junior movement is within surf lifesaving.

September 5, 2013, Eve Jeffery, "Nippers season begins on the north coast", in Echonetdaily

[…] ready backbiters, sore nippers, and spiteful reporters privily of good men.

a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, edited by Margaret Ascham, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], published 1570

The railway ticket nipper has the identification number of the conductor on it […]

1908, Transport World, volume 24, page 319

Today, there are new synthetic materials to protect the hands, but until recently, fishermen wore nippers—thick rubber gloves with cotton lining.

1997, Mark Kurlansky, Cod, page 112