nick

/nik/, n.

1. a small notch, groove, chip, or the like, cut into or existing in something.

2. a hollow place produced in an edge or surface, as of a dish, by breaking, chipping, or the like: I didn't notice those tiny nicks in the vase when I bought it.

3. a small dent or wound.

4. a small groove on one side of the shank of a printing type, serving as a guide in setting or to distinguish different types. See diag. under type.

5. Biochem. a break in one strand of a double-stranded DNA or RNA molecule.

6. Brit. Slang. prison.

7. in the nick of time, at the right or vital moment, usually at the last possible moment: The fire engines arrived in the nick of time.

v.t.

8. to cut into or through: I nicked my chin while shaving.

9. to hit or injure slightly.

10. to make a nick or nicks in (something); notch, groove, or chip.

11. to record by means of a notch or notches.

12. to incise certain tendons at the root of (a horse's tail) to give it a higher carrying position; make an incision under the tail of (a horse).

13. to hit, guess, catch, etc., exactly.

14. Slang. to trick, cheat, or defraud: How much did they nick you for that suit?

15. Brit. Slang.

a. to arrest (a criminal or suspect).

b. to capture; nab.

c. to steal: Someone nicked her pocketbook on the bus.

[1475-85; obscurely akin to OE gehnycned wrinkled, ON hnykla to wrinkle]

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