nick

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Late Middle English nik (“notch, tally; nock of an arrow”). Its further etymology is unknown; a connection with nock (“notch in a bow to hold the bowstring; notch at the rear of an arrow that fits the bowstring; cleft in the buttocks”) has not been clearly established. The verb appears to be derived from the noun, though the available evidence shows that some of the verb senses predate the noun senses. No connection with words in Germanic languages such as Danish nikke (“to nod”), Middle Dutch nicken (“to bend; to bow”) (modern Dutch knikken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German nicken (“to bend over; to sink”), Middle High German nicken (“to bend; to depress”) (modern German nicken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German knicken (“to bend; to snap”) (modern German knicken (“to bend; to break”), Old Frisian hnekka (“to nod”), and Swedish nicka (“to nod”), has been clearly established.

noun

1. 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.
      in the nick of time
   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.
      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, →OCLC, 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,[…], →OCLC, class XXVIII, section C (Plate, Letterpress, and Other Modes of Printing), page 3
2. 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.
      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.
      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, →DOI, →ISSN, 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.
      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
3. (Britain, New Zealand, colloquial) Often in the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition, state.
   The car I bought was cheap and in good nick.
   [F]urther south in Kent, there was St. Mildred, whose mother Domne Eafe], in 670, founded the minster that still stands there in good nick, with nine nuns who are an ever-present help in trouble to all religions and none. 20 July 2014, Jane Gardam, “Give us a bishop in high heels [print version: ‘Give us a high-heeled bishop’, International New York Times, 22 July 2014, page 11]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2015-11-07
   […]considering they've abused their bodies with everything from M and G to crystal meth over the course of the last day or so, some longer, they look in pretty good nick. 2017, James Wharton, Something for the Weekend, Biteback Publishing
   More unexpectedly, older tech and hardware stocks seem in decent nick, Mr Ives notes. 2022-05-14, “Tech bubbles are bursting all over the place”, in The Economist, →ISSN
4. (Britain, law enforcement, slang) A police 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.
   I recall too that the chats in the back of the [police] van weren't too bad as they dispatched me to the nick. 2014, Russell Brand, “I am an Anarchist-a”, in Revolution, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, page 81
   Poor Billy, he got seven years and he died in the nick in Liverpool in January 1958. Tragedy, he was such a good man, the best. He had a big funeral back in Clerkenwell. Eva went to it. I was in the nick down south at the time. 2019-06-06, Frankie Fraser, James Morton, Mad Frank's Diary: The Confessions of Britain’s Most Notorious Villain, Random House
   “They say he's a friend of Stuart's who he met in the nick down south. No one in Brisbane knows him.” “Not that anyone would admit to it anyway.” 2021-03-23, William Stokes, The Riddle Exposed:: The Whiskey Firebombing's Link to the McCulkin Family Murders, Interactive Publications, page 80

verb

1. (transitive) To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way.
   1. (transitive) To make ragged or uneven, as by cutting nicks or notches in; to deface, to mar.
      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, →OCLC; 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, →OCLC, 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).
      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,[…], →OCLC, 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;[…], 5th edition, Richmond, Va.: Printed by Peter Cottom,[…], page 48
2. (transitive, obsolete) To fit into or suit, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.
   1. (transitive, sometimes figurative) To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time.
   2. (transitive, cricket) To hit the ball with the edge of the bat and produce a fine deflection.
      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.
      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. [1814], 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.[…], →OCLC, page 150
3. (transitive, mining) To make a cut at the side of the face.
   A practice then prevailed of blasting without nicking the side of the place which still continues and of conducting the current of air too far by means of brattice, to both of which practices I raised a strong objection. They admitted their inability to make the men nick the coal as they formerly did and thought the application of brattice could not be properly defined, but that it should be left to the discretion of the manager of each particular mine as to the distance openings should be made apart between the intake and return air courses. 28 February 1872, Peter Higson, “[Mines. Reports of the Inspectors of Mines, to Her Majesty’s Secretary of State, for the Year 1871. Chapter 653.] Report of the Working of the Mines Inspection Act (23 & 24 Vict. c. 151.) in the West Lancashire and North Wales District, during the Year ended 31st December 1871.”, in Reports from Commissioners: Twenty-two Volumes.[…], volume XVI, London: Printed by George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswode,[…], for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, page 58
4. (transitive, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To steal.
   Someone’s nicked my bike!
   As I'm on the ground, my bat and one of the stumps are grabbed out of my hands. … At that point, I look up and see Adrian [Dale] – with two stumps in his hands! Hugh [Morris] has given him one and his brother Gary, who is a policeman, has seen the bloke who nicked it off me and wrestled it off him and given [it] to Adrian. He didn't get my bat back, though. 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, pages 145–146
5. (transitive, Britain, law enforcement, slang) To arrest.
   The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he’d broken into.
   Flick knives were pulled on us, and the group demanded we give them all our money, and passports and everything else we had. … They [the police] had nicked the knife gang, (who had stayed there, beating the shit out of Nick), and found our passports. 2012, T. Appleby, “Die in Dunkirk or Somewhere in France”, in Life in the Harsh Lane: The Nine Lives, Mishaps, and Adventures of a No-body, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 113
   … I was always getting nicked when I was a junkie, so I've had my fair share of skirmishes with the law. 2014, Russell Brand, “I am an Anarchist-a”, in Revolution, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, page 81

Etymology 2

From nick(name).

noun

1. (Internet) Clipping of nickname.
   a user’s reserved nick on an IRC network
   /nick Changes your nickname—the name by which other IRCers see and refer to you—to anything you'd like (but remember that nine characters is the maximum nick length). 1995, Donald Rose, Internet Chat Quick Tour: Real-time Conversations & Communications Online, Chapel Hill, N.C.: Ventana Press, page 42
   Also, ERC, like Emacs, is extremely modular and flexible. It is, of course, a free software program, but there are also many existing modules from nick highlighting to autoaway that you can use. 2014, Josh Datko, “Chatting Off-the-record”, in BeagleBone for Secret Agents: Bbrowse Anonymously, Communicate Secretly, and Create Custom Security Solutions with Open Source Software, the BeagleBone Black, and Cryptographic Hardware (Community Experience Distilled), Birmingham, West Midlands: Packt Publishing

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To give or call (someone) by a nickname; to style.
   For Warbecke as you nicke him, came to me / Commended by the States of Chriſtendome. 1634, [John Ford], The Chronicle Historie of Perkin Warbeck. A Strange Truth.[…], London: Printed by T[homas] P[urfoot, Jr.] for Hugh Beeston,[…], →OCLC; republished as A Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck. A Tragedy. A Strange Truth, London: Printed for J. Roberts,[…], 1714, →OCLC, act IV, scene i, page 72

Etymology 3

A variant of nix or nixie.

noun

1. (archaic) A nix or nixie (“water spirit”).
   [A]midst Ahriman and his hosts who had now established themselves in the Occident, and as heirs to the horns and tails of Pans and fauns, a crowd of native spirits moved; imps, giants, trolls, forest-spirits, elves and hobgoblins in and on the earth; nicks, river-sprites in the water, fiends in the air, and salamanders in the fire. 1879, Viktor Rydberg, “The Magic of the People and the Struggle of the Church against It”, in August Hjalmar Edgren, transl., The Magic of the Middle Ages: Translated from the Swedish, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 201