nick

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small cut or notch; (informal) to steal or arrest

   He cut himself shaving and left a tiny nick on his jaw.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Nick has many apparently unrelated senses that seem to derive from the same noun and verb, whose origin is unknown. Its basic verbal meaning was “make a nick or notch in,” from which senses involving striking or hitting a target developed; the noun first meant a notch, cut, or groove. The custody sense is first recorded in 1640, while “steal” dates from the 1820s. The noun meaning “condition” seems to come from Worcestershire and Gloucestershire dialect and was first recorded at the end of the 19th century.

Late Middle English nick ('a notch, tally'), of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of nock ('a notch on a bow or arrow').

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