nick1 (nik)

[A var. of nock, prob. in part due to confusion with nick3, but mainly for diminutive effect, as in tip, var. of top, etc., tick tock, imitative of a light and a heavy stroke, etc. Cf. G. knick, a flaw, knicken, crack. There are perhaps several orig. diff. words confused under this form.] 1. A hollow cut or slight depre ion made in the surface of anything; a notch. Split that forked stick, with such a nick or notch at one end of it as may keep the line from any more of it ravelling from about the stick than so much of it as you intend. 3986 or in the nick of time - that is, at the right moment, just when most needed or demanded. The masque dogg'd me, I hit it in the nick ; A fetch to get my diamond, my dear stone. Middle ton, Blurt, Master-Constable, ii. 2. Most fit opportunity! her grace comes just i th ' nick. Ford, Love's Sacrifice, ii. 2. I never could have found him in a sweeter temper for my purpose to be sure, I'm just come in the nick! This harsh restorative poetry in the nick of time. I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 137. The hollow groove extending acro the shank [of a type]... is the nick , which enables the workman to recognize the direction of the type and to distinguish different founts of the same body. Encyc . Brit ., XXIII. 698. 2. A score or reckoning: so called from the old practice of keeping reckonings on tallies or notched sticks. - 3+. A false bottom in a beer can, by which customers were cheated, the nick below and the froth above filling up part of the measure. Cannes of beere (malt sod in fishes broth), And those they say are fill'd with nick and froth. Rowlands , Knave of Hearts (1613). ( Nares .) Out of all nickt, past all counting. I tell you what Launce, his man, told me; he loved her out of all nick . Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 2. 76. nick1 (nik), v. [ with nicks or notches. My master preaches patience to him, and the while His man with sci ors nicks him like a fool. Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 175. The farmer is advised [in Fitzherbert's book on Husbandry, published in 1523] to have a payre of tables (tablets), and to write down anything that is ami as he goes his rounds; if he cannot write, let him nycke the defautes upon a stycke. Oliphant, The New English, I. 407.. 2. To sever with a snip or single cut, as with shears. [Scotch.] "Ay, ay!" quo he [Death], and shook his head, "It's e'en a lang, lang time indeed Sin' I began to nick the thread, And choke the breath." Burns , Death and Doctor Hornbook. 3t. To cut short; abridge. See nick1, n., 3. The itch of his affection should not then Have nick'd his captainship at such a point. Shak., A. and C., iii. 18. 8. There was a tapster, that with his pots smalne e, and with frothing of his drinke, had got a good sum me of money together. This nicking of the pots he would never Life of Robin Goodfellow (1628). ( Hall i well .) leave. Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 3... was presented to English E. Go e, From Shakespeare to Pope, p. 40. 3. A lucky or winning throw in the game of hazard: as, eleven is the nick to seven. See hazard, 1. nick3 (nik), v. [ In these verses by reason one of them doth as it were nicke another, and haue a certaine extraordinary sence with all. Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 111. Words nicking and resembling one the other are appliable to different significations. Camden, Remains, p. 158. And then I have a salutation will nick all. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1. The just season of doing things must be nicked , and all accidents improved. Sir R. L'Estrange. He had just nicked the time of dinner, for he came in as the cloth was laying. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 3. 2t. In gaming, to throw or turn up; hit or hit IMG:content-1352.png:[blocks in formation] We must be sometimes witty, To nick a knave; 'tis as useful as our gravity. Fletcher (and another ?), Prophete , iii. 1. 4. To catch in the act. Hall i well . [Prov. Eng.]-To nick the nick, to hit exactly the critical moment or time. Hall i well . nicker cobalt are also closely allied to iron, which they resemble in color, although slightly whiter than that metal, the former having rather a yellowish tinge, the latter a bluish. They are both magnetic, but in a le degree than iron. Both also stand on a par with that metal in regard to most of those qualities which make it valuable in the arts, namely tenacity, malleability, and ductility, but both are so much scarcer than iron that there is no po ibility of their replacing that metal to any considerable extent. The occurrence of nickel (as also of cobalt) in connection with iron in meteorites is interesting and peculiar. (See meteorite.) The native metal of terrestrial origin has been found in only one locality, Fraser river, where it occurs in small flattened grains among the scales of gold. The ores of nickel are somewhat widely di eminated, but nowhere occur in great abundance. The arseniuret (kupfernickel) and the silicate are the principal sources of this metal, the latter having been found within a few years in considerable quantity in New Caledonia, where it is ex. ceptionally free from cobalt. Nickel was discovered by Cronstedt in 1751; but it is only within a few years that it has begun to be of considerable commercial importance. Its value has varied greatly since it came into general use. It is an ingredient of certain valuable alloys and especially of German silver, and is now much experimented with in this direction. It is largely used for plating iron in order to improve its appearance and preserve it from rusting. It is also somewhat extensively employed in coinage, in the United States, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and Mexico. Nickel bromide has been used in medicine as an antispasmodic, and the chlorid and sulphate as tonics. 2. In the United States, a current coin representing the value of five cents, made of an alloy of one part of nickel to three of copper. [Colloq.] II. a. Consisting of or covered with nickel. nickel (nik'el), v. t.; pret. and pp. nickeled or nickelled , ppr. nickeling or nickelling . [ nickel , n.] To plate or coat, as metal surfaces, with nickel, either by electrolytic proce es or by chemical operations.