Other forms: nicks, nicked
To nick is to cut a small notch in something. Nick the edge, nicked himself shaving, a nicked blade.
In British slang it also means to steal and to arrest, and the nick is a prison, which is a remarkable spread for one short word. In the nick of time means at the last possible moment.
1verbnickTo cut a small notch in something.
“I nicked my chin while shaving this morning.”
nick is a cutting.
Middle English nik means a notch, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to nock.
Middle English
nik — notch, tally; nock of an arrow
English, today
nick
Built from
The noun is derived from Late Middle English nik (“notch, tally; nock of an arrow”). Its 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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA