nick

Definitions

General English

  • verb to make a small cut in something

Cricket

  • noun a slight deflection off the edge of the bat; a thin ‘edge’
    Citation ‘He should have had Kevin Pietersen caught behind first ball, but Billy Bowden didn’t hear the nick’ (Kevin Mitchell, Wisden 2006)
  • verb to hit the ball unintentionally with the very edge of the bat
    Citation ‘That troubled the left-handed opener Imran Farhat, who was leg-before, and then Inzamam-ul Haq (15), the right-hander, who nicked one to Parthiv’ (Rituraj Borkakoty, The Pioneer (New Delhi) 14 April 2004)

Media Studies

Medical

  • verb to make a little cut in something

Publishing

  • noun a groove across the front of the stem of a piece of type, so that the compositor can easily tell which is the front of the piece

Slang

  • noun a prison or police station. This common expression dates from before World War II and postdates the verb form nick, meaning to arrest.
  • verb to steal. The word has been used in this sense since at least the 1820s. The word is rare in the USA, but has been recorded in the sense of rob.
  • verb to arrest. Nick was a colloquial term for catch from the 16th century. By the early 19th century it had also acquired this specific meaning.
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