nick

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A shallow notch, cut, or indentation on an edge or a surface: nicks in the table; razor nicks on his chin.
2. n. Chiefly British Slang A prison or police station.
3. n. Printing A groove down the side of a piece of type used to ensure that it is correctly placed.
4. v. To cut a nick or notch in.
5. v. To cut into and wound slightly: A sliver of glass nicked my hand.
6. v. To cut short; check: nicked an impulse to flee.
7. v. Slang To cheat, especially by overcharging.
8. v. Chiefly British Slang To steal.
9. v. Chiefly British Slang To arrest.
10. idiom. in the nick of time Just at the critical moment; just in time.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A hollow cut or slight depression made in the surface of anything; a notch.
2. n. A score or reckoning: so called from the old practice of keeping reckonings on tallies or notched sticks.
3. n. 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.
4. To make a nick or notch in; notch; cut or mark with nicks or notches.
5. To sever with a snip or single cut, as with shears.
6. To cut short; abridge. See nick, n., 3.
7. To break or crack; smash as the nickers used to do. See nicker, 2.
8. In coal-mining, to cut (the coal) on the side, after kirving, holing, or undercutting. The part of the coal-seam which has been kirved and nicked is then ready to be wedged or blasted down.
9. To nod; wink.
10. n. Point, especially point of time: as, in the nick of—that is, on the point of (being or doing something).
11. n. The exact point (of time) which accords with or is demanded by the necessities of the case; the critical or right moment; the very moment: used chiefly in the phrases in the nick or in the nick of time—that is, at the right moment, just when most needed or demanded.
12. n. A lucky or winning throw in the game of hazard: as, eleven is the nick to seven. See hazard, 1.
13. To strike or hit right; hit or hit upon exactly; fit into; suit.
14. In gaming, to throw or turn up; hit or hit upon.
15. To delude or deceive; cozen; cheat, as at dice.
16. To catch in the act.
17. To fit; unite or combine; be adapted for combining: said, in stock-breeding, of the crossing of one strain of blood with another.
18. To suit; compare; be comparable.
19. In the game of hazard, to throw a winning number. Compare nick, n., 3.
20. To bet; gamble.
21. n. The devil: usually with the addition of Old.
22. To nickname; hence, to annoy or tease by nicknaming.
23. n. In type-founding, a small groove, made by the mold on the front side and lower part of the body of American type. The first purpose of the nick is to enable the type-setter to place the type properly in the stick without examining the face. When many faces are designed for the same body, it is customary to cast two or more nicks at irregular intervals to prevent accidental mixing of unlike faces. In France the nick is on the hinder side. In some forms of type-setting and type distributing, the nicks are squarecut grooves, with a different arrangement of nicks for each character.
24. n. In violin-making, one of the little notches cut midway in the side of an f-hole or sound-hole, to indicate the proper location for the bridge.
25. n. In lumbering, same as undercut, 2.
26. n. In craps, a throw of 7 or 11, which wins all the stakes for the caster immediately.

Wiktionary

1. n. A small cut in a surface
2. n. A particular point or place considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.
3. n. cricket a small deflection of the ball off the edge of the bat, often going to the wicket-keeper for a catch
4. n. Short for nickname.
5. n. UK, slang Condition
6. n. UK, slang A police station or prison
7. n. The point where the wall of the court meets the floor.
8. v. transitive To make a nick in, especially unintentionally.
9. v. transitive, slang To steal.
10. v. transitive, UK, slang To arrest.
11. v. transitive, cricket to hit the ball with the edge of the bat and produce a fine deflection
12. v. obsolete To nickname; to style.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Northern Myth.) An evil spirit of the waters.
2. n. obsolete, obsolete A notch cut into something.
3. n. obsolete A score for keeping an account; a reckoning.
4. n. (Print.) A notch cut crosswise in the shank of a type, to assist a compositor in placing it properly in the stick, and in distribution.
5. n. A broken or indented place in any edge or surface.
6. n. A particular point or place considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.
7. v. To make a nick or nicks in; to notch; to keep count of or upon by nicks
8. v. To mar; to deface; to make ragged, as by cutting nicks or notches in; to create a nick{2} in, deliberately or accidentally.
9. v. To suit or fit into, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.
10. v. To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time.
11. v. To make a cross cut or cuts on the under side of (the tail of a horse, in order to make him carry it higher).
12. v. obsolete To nickname; to style.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (British slang) a prison
2. v. divide or reset the tail muscles of
3. v. cut slightly, with a razor
4. v. cut a nick into
5. n. an impression in a surface (as made by a blow)
6. n. a small cut
7. v. mate successfully; of livestock