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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To bite at gently and repeatedly.
  2. v. To eat with small, quick bites or in small morsels: nibble a cracker.
  3. v. To wear away or diminish bit by bit: "If you start compromising too early . . . they nibble you to death” ( People).
  4. v. To take small or hesitant bites: fish nibbling at the bait.
  5. n. A very small quantity, especially of food; a morsel.
  6. n. The act or an instance of nibbling.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To eat by biting or gnawing off small bits; gnaw.
  2. To bite very slightly or gently; bite off small pieces of.
  3. To catch; nab.
  4. To bite gently; bite off small pieces: as, fishes nibble at the bait.
  5. Figuratively, to carp; make a petty attack: with at.
  6. To fidget the fingers about.
  7. n. The act of nibbling; a little bite; also, a small morsel or bit.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.
  2. n. Small snacks such as crisps/potato chips or nuts, often eaten to accompany drinks.
  3. n. A unit of memory equal to a quarter of a byte, or two bits.
  4. n. A unit of memory equal to half a byte, or four bits.
  5. v. To eat with small, quick bites.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To bite by little at a time; to seize gently with the mouth; to eat slowly or in small bits.
  2. v. To bite upon something gently or cautiously; to eat a little of a thing, as by taking small bits cautiously.
  3. n. A small or cautious bite.
  4. n. An expression of interest, often tentative, as at the beginning of a sale or negotiation process.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. bite off very small pieces
  2. n. a small byte
  3. v. bite gently
  4. v. eat intermittently; take small bites of
  5. n. gentle biting

Etymologies

  1. Middle English nebyllen; akin to Low German nibbelen.

Examples

  • “Of course, despite that he is after all * nibble nibble* a member of SG5, which means that we * ssslurp* try to include him in some of our class activities.”

    jaimewolf Diary Entry

  • “No single nibble is that dramatic or burdensome, but over the decades they threaten to convert any stable democracy into a big, inefficient, favor-ridden state.”

    How America Can Rise Again

  • “This morning, for example, it was a quick flit through the studios of SKY News and a quick nibble from the toothless gums of our Eamonn.”

    Brown's Whirling Dervishes

  • “Not a nibble from the Administration, which instead chose to embarrass the residents with the misbegotten site for going on eight months.”

    Plainfield.com version 3.0 coming

  • “That's just a nibble from a post full of meat (the historical context alone is well worth your mouse click.)”

    On the Don't Panic beat...

  • “I had a nibble from a Spanish institution a few years back.”

    CHE > Latest news

  • “The ladies, to do them justice, are never at all suspicious about men -- on the 'nibble' -- always taking it for granted, they are 'all they could wish,' and they know each other so well, that any cautionary hint acts rather in a man's favour than otherwise.”

    Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour

  • “Four months without a nibble, which is a personal record!”

    Archive 2006-04-01

  • “It had been half full of the sort of tidbits he privately called nibble'ments-salted nuts, wafers, things like that-when he and Leslie Coombes had gone through the room on their way down for dinner.”

    The Fuzzy Papers

  • “UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He sticks the licorice through and he and Casey kind of nibble it until they get to the end?”

    CNN Transcript Mar 26, 2009

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Lists

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‘nibble’ has been looked up 1762 times, loved by 1 person, added to 37 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 10.