Definition: nip

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

nip
     n 1: a small drink of liquor; "he poured a shot of whiskey" [syn:
           shot]
     2: a person of Japanese descent [syn: Jap, Nip]
     3: a tart spiciness [syn: piquance, piquancy, tang, tanginess,
         zest]
     4: a small drink [syn: sip]
     5: small sharp biting [syn: pinch]
     v 1: squeeze tightly between the fingers; "He pinched her
          behind"; "She squeezed the bottle" [syn: pinch, vellicate,
           squeeze, twinge, tweet, twitch]
     2: give a small sharp bite to; "The Queen's corgies always nip
        at her staff's ankles"
     3: sever or remove by pinching or snipping; "nip off the
        flowers" [syn: nip off, clip, snip, snip off]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Nip \Nip\, n.
   1. A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching; as, in the
      northern seas, the nip of masses of ice.

   2. A pinch with the nails or teeth.

   3. A small cut, or a cutting off the end.

   4. A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.

   5. A biting sarcasm; a taunt. --Latimer.

   6. (Naut.) A short turn in a rope.

   Nip and tuck, a phrase signifying equality in a contest.
      [Low, U.S.]
Nip \Nip\, n. [LG. & D. nippen to sip; akin to Dan. nippe, G.
   nippen.]
   A sip or small draught; esp., a draught of intoxicating
   liquor; a dram.
Nip \Nip\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Nipped, less properly Nipt;
   p. pr. & vb. n. Nipping.] [OE. nipen; cf. D. niipen to
   pinch, also knippen to nip, clip, pinch, snap, knijpen to
   pinch, LG. knipen, G. kneipen, kneifen, to pinch, cut off,
   nip, Lith. knebti.]
   1. To catch and inclose or compress tightly between two
      surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed;
      to pinch; to close in upon.

            May this hard earth cleave to the Nadir hell, Down,
            down, and close again, and nip me flat, If I be such
            a traitress.                          --Tennyson.

   2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting
      edges of anything; to clip.

            The small shoots . . . must be nipped off.
                                                  --Mortimer.

   3. Hence: To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor
      of; to destroy.

   4. To vex or pain, as by nipping; hence, to taunt.

            And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip.
                                                  --Spenser.

   To nip in the bud, to cut off at the verycommencement of
      growth; to kill in the incipient stage.