Definition: nibble
Source: WordNet (r) 1.7
nibble
n 1: a small byte [syn: nybble]
2: gentle biting
v 1: bite off very small pieces; "She nibbled on her cracker"
2: eat intermittently; take small bites of; "He pieced at the
sandwich all morning"; "She never eats a full meal--she
just picks at the food" [syn: pick, piece]
3: eat lightly; "She just nibbles at her food" [syn: munch]
[ant: gorge]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Nibble \Nib"ble\, v. t.
To bite upon something gently or cautiously; to eat a little
of a thing, as by taking small bits cautiously; as, fishes
nibble at the bait.
Instead of returning a full answer to my book, he
manifestly falls a-nibbling at one single passage.
--Tillotson.
Nibble \Nib"ble\, n. A small or cautious bite.
Nibble \Nib"ble\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nibbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Nibbling.] [Cf. Nip.] To bite by little at a time; to seize gently with the mouth; to eat slowly or in small bits. Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep. --Shak.
Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)
nibble <data> /nib'l/ (US "nybble", by analogy with "bite" -> "byte") Half a byte. Since a byte is nearly always eight bits, a nibble is nearly always four bits (and can therefore be represented by one hex digit). Other size nibbles have existed, for example the BBC Microcomputer disk file system used eleven bit sector numbers which were described as one byte (eight bits) and a nibble (three bits). Compare crumb, tayste, dynner; see also bit, nickle, deckle. The spelling "nybble" is uncommon in Commonwealth Hackish as British orthography suggests the pronunciation /ni:'bl/. (1997-12-03)
