NICK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nick mean? 

• NICK (noun)
  The noun NICK has 3 senses:

1. an impression in a surface (as made by a blow)

2. (British slang) a prison

3. a small cut

  Familiarity information: NICK used as a noun is uncommon.

• NICK (verb)
  The verb NICK has 4 senses:

1. cut slightly, with a razor

2. cut a nick into

3. divide or reset the tail muscles of

4. mate successfully; of livestock

  Familiarity information: NICK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NICK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An impression in a surface (as made by a blow)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

dent; ding; gouge; nick

Hypernyms ("nick" is a kind of...):

blemish; defect; mar (a mark or flaw that spoils the appearance of something (especially on a person's body))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nick"):

dig (a small gouge (as in the cover of a book))

Sense 2

Meaning:

(British slang) a prison

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

he's in the nick

Hypernyms ("nick" is a kind of...):

prison; prison house (a correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Domain usage:

argot; cant; jargon; lingo; patois; slang; vernacular (a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A small cut

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

nick; notch; snick

Hypernyms ("nick" is a kind of...):

cut; cutting (the act of penetrating or opening open with a sharp edge)

Derivation:

nick (cut a nick into)

nick (cut slightly, with a razor)

• NICK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they nick    ... he / she / it nicks   
Past simple: nicked   
Past participle: nicked   
-ing form: nicking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut slightly, with a razor

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

nick; snick

Context example:

The barber's knife nicked his cheek

Hypernyms (to "nick" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

nick (a small cut)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cut a nick into

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

chip; nick

Hypernyms (to "nick" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

nick (a small cut)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Divide or reset the tail muscles of

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

nick horses

Hypernyms (to "nick" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Mate successfully; of livestock

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "nick" is one way to...):

copulate; couple; mate; pair (engage in sexual intercourse)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

This protein plays a role in DNA replication and repair of nicks in double stranded DNA.

(DNA Ligase 1, NCI Thesaurus)

Once in a cell, Granzyme A activates DNA nicking by the recently identified DNAse NM23-H1, a tumor suppressor gene product whose expression is reduced in transformed, metastatic cells.

(Granzyme A Mediated Apoptosis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

“You came in in about the nick, I guess, for me and Hawkins. And so it's you, Ben Gunn!” he added.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Pasques Dieu! but you have nicked it,” cried Aylward.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Each of those nicks is for a slave murderer—a good row of them—what?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With either pairing, the oxidized nucleotide causes a nick—an opening between the 2 DNA strands.

(Structural Snapshots of Damaged DNA, NIH)

It struck me that so astute a man as Straker would not undertake this delicate tendon-nicking without a little practice.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I think I came just in the nick of time.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

As she left them the milkmaid cast many reproachful glances over her shoulder at the clumsy strangers, holding her nicked elbow close to her side.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

It is a single-strand specific DNA endonuclease that nicks damaged DNA 3-prime to the lesion in nucleotide excision repair as a result of the combined action of the XPB helicase and XPD helicase following sequential assembly of repair proteins at the DNA damage site.

(DNA Excision Repair Protein ERCC-5, NCI Thesaurus)