nip

The Sailor's Word-Book

A short turn in a rope. Also, a fishing term for a bite. In Arctic parlance, a nip is when two floes in motion crush by their opposite edges a vessel unhappily entrapped. Also, the parts of a rope at the place bound by the seizing, or caught by jambing. Also, Nip in the hawse; hence "freshen the nip," by veering a few feet of the service into the hawse.

Related Words

Nip
·noun A short turn in a rope. II. Nip ·noun A biting sarcasm; a taunt. III. Nip ·noun A pinch with...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
nip
1) A cheat. Bung nipper; a cutpurse. 2) A half pint, a nip of ale: whence the nipperkin, a small ve...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to nip
To pinch close in domestic management.--Forby's Norfolk Glossary. Mrs. H---- carded, spun, colored,...

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
nip cheese
A nick name for the purser of a ship: from those gentlemen being supposed sometimes to nip, or dimin...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
freshen the nip, to
To veer a small portion of cable through the hawse-hole, or heave a little in, in order to let anoth...

The Sailor's Word-Book