nibble

An act of taking a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, especially with the front teeth; the bite or bites so taken.

Noun

  1. An act of taking a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, especially with the front teeth; the bite or bites so taken.
    • [H]e would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar's lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble. - 1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym;...
  2. A light bite of a person or animal, or part of their body, especially one which is loving or playful; a nip.
  3. An amount of food that is or can be taken into the mouth through a small bite; a small mouthful.
    • Yo'r sheep will be a' folded, a reckon, Measter Pratt, for there'll ne'er be a nibble o' grass to be seen this two month, according to my reading; […] - 1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “New Year’s Fête”, in Sylvia’s Lovers....
  4. A slight show of interest in something, such as a commercial opportunity or a proposal.
  5. Grass or other vegetation eaten by livestock; forage, pasturage.
    • On the northern slopes of the light-earthed hills the moss had come over the herbage, and the sweet nibble of the sheep was souring. - 1875, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, “Going Up the Tree”, in Alice Lorraine. A Tale of...

Origin

The verb is derived from Late Middle English nebillen, nebyll (“to peck away at (something), nibble; (figurative) to attempt to sing (a part of a song)”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Middle Low German nibbelen (“to eat in small bites, peck”) (modern German Low German nibbeln, gnibbeln, knibbeln), possibly a variant of knabbelen, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnet- (“to press”) or imitative. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates * Middle Dutch cnibbelen (modern Dutch knibbelen (“to gnaw; to murmur”), nibbelen (“to nibble”)) * Saterland Frisian nibje (“to nibble”) * West Frisian knibbelje

Forms

nibbles

Derived

nibble fish nibbles nibbly niblet

Noun computing, engineering

  1. A unit of memory equal to half a byte, or chiefly four bits.
    • I own several abaci and two books on how to use them, but they all have four counters below the bar and one counter above it. […] The bottom four counters of each abacus can be used to represent a "nybble," and the...
    • At every negative-going transition it reads a 4-bit ADPCM nybble (there are 2 nybbles per byte) and stores it in a memory-resident table. - 1983 June, Steve Ciarcia, “Ciarcia’s Circuit Cellar: Use ADPCM for Highly...
    • Data is being received by a system in serial sequences of four bit nybbles. (A nybble is usually defined as a four bit grouping.) […] Our mission, should we decide to accept it, is to test each nybble and determine...

Origin

A pun on the homophony of byte and bite.

Forms

nibbles nybble nybl

Verb

  1. To take a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, of (something).
    • The rabbit nibbled the lettuce.
    • His little Goats gan driue out of their ſtalls, / To feede abroad, vvhere paſture beſt befalls. / […] / Some clambring through the hollovv cliffes on hy, / Nibble the buſhie ſhrubs, vvhich grovve thereby. - 1591,...
    • I then nibbled all the red wax of our last ball-tickets, […] - 1712 July 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “MONDAY, July 15, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 431; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The...

    Synonyms: nab

  2. To lightly bite (a person or animal, or part of their body), especially in a loving or playful manner; to nip.
    • My hand, as it hangs down, thou nibblest tenderly, […] - 1837, Alphonse de Lamartine, “Ninth Epoch”, in F[rances] H[enrietta] Jobert, transl., Jocelyn: An Episode […], Paris: Baudry, […], →OCLC, page 350:
    • Social animals perform many little services for each other: horses nibble, and cows lick each other, on any spot which itches: […] - 1871, Charles Darwin, “Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower...
  3. To make (a hole in something) through small bites.
  4. To make (one's way) through or while taking small bites.
    • Before he realized it, he had nibbled his way through a whole bag of potato chips.
    • The cows nibbled their way across the field.
  5. Chiefly followed by into or to: to cause (something) to be in a certain state through small bites.
    • The bases of the smaller trees were nibbled bare by rabbits, […] - 1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter VII, in The Woodlanders […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC,...
    • The grass had been nibbled short and even, so this stretch was not shaggy and red like the surrounding country, but gray and velvety. - 1918 September, Willa Sibert Cather, chapter VII, in My Ántonia, Boston, Mass.; New...
  6. Followed by away, off, etc.: to remove (something) through small bites.
    • The ravviſh danke of clumzie vvinter ramps / The fluent ſummers vaine: and drizling ſleete / Chilleth the vvan bleak cheek of the numd earth, / VVhilſt ſnarling guſts nibble the iuyceles leaues, / From the nak't...
    • Am I reiected, all my baites nibled off, / And not the fiſh caught? - c. 1614–1617 (date written), Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, A Faire Quarrell. […], London: […] [George Eld] for I[ohn] T[rundle] and are to bee...
    • Y[oung] Lar[oon]. I am ſure our Bait is good—A fine VVoman is as good a Bait for a Prieſt-trap, as toaſted Cheeſe is for a Mouſe-trap. / Old Lar[oon]. Yes, but the Raſcal vvill nibble off tvventy Baits before you can...

    1. To remove (small pieces) from glass, tile, etc., with a tool; also, to remove small pieces from (glass, tile, etc.) with a tool.

  7. To fidget or play with (something), especially with the fingers or hands.
    • Ellen stood dumb and motionless, looking steadfastly down at the hem of her green jerkin, which she was nibbling with both her hands. - 1827 August, James Hogg, “The Laird of Cassway”, in The Shepherd’s Calendar. […],...
  8. To catch (someone); to nab.
    • [T]he Roague has ſpied me novv, hee nibled me finely once too; […] - c. 1604–1606 (date written), [Thomas Middleton], A Trick to Catch the Old-one. […], London: […] George Eld, […], published 1608, →OCLC, Act I,...
  9. To steal (something); to pilfer.
  10. Chiefly followed by at, away, or on: to take a small, quick bite, or several of such bites; to eat (at frequent intervals) with small, quick bites.
    • The rabbit nibbled at the lettuce.
    • What deepe and rare pointes of hiddẽ [hidden] secrets Virgil hathe sealde vp in hys twelue bookes of Aeneis, maye easily appeare to such reaching wits, as bend their endeuours, to the vnfolding thereof; not only by...
    • I doo but yet angle with a silken flye, to see whether Martins will nibble; and if I see that, why then I have wormes for the nonce, and will giue them line enough like a trowte, till they swallow both hooke and line,...

    Synonyms: knabble nab piddle

  11. To lightly bite, especially in a loving or playful manner.
    • He nibbled at my neck and made me shiver.
  12. Chiefly followed by at: to show slight interest in something, such as a commercial opportunity or a proposal.
    • [W]hy mouſe, thy minde is nibbling at ſomething, vvhats iſt, vvhat lyes vpon thy Stomach? - c. 1607–1610 (date written), Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girle. Or Moll Cut-purse. […], London: […] [Nicholas...

Forms

nibbles nibbling nibbled no-table-tags glossary nibble nibblest nibbledst nibbleth -

Derived

nibbleable nibbled nibbler nibblesome nibbling nibblingly nibbly unnibbled