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# nick

«nick» in Mova's school dictionary: **a small cut or notch on a surface or the skin** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (nick, nicks, nicked, nicking); noun (a nick, nicks)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A nick is a small cut or notch on a surface or the skin. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#m1)

2) To nick something is to make a small cut in it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#m2)

3) In British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand slang, to nick means to steal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#m3)

4) "In the nick of time" means only just in time. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#m4)

5) "In good nick" (British slang) means in good condition. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#m5)

6) "Old Nick" is an old name for the Devil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#m6)

### sense in the lessons

In stories, a hero arrives "in the nick of time". In everyday British slang, "Someone nicked my bike!" means it was stolen; "the nick" can mean a police station or prison. In first aid, a small nick needs washing and a plaster.

### examples

- I got a nick on my finger from the paper. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#x1)
- Dad nicked his chin while shaving. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#x2)
- Someone nicked my bike from outside the shop. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#x3)
- The firefighters arrived in the nick of time. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#x4)
- The old car is still in good nick. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#x5)
- There's a nick in the edge of the table. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#x6)
- Nick is short for Nicholas. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/#x7)

### note

Regular verb: nicked, nicking. Slang meanings (steal, police station) are informal; do not use them in formal writing. As a name, Nick has a capital N.

### In the corpora

- ["Old Nick" (old-fashioned, UK) means the Devil.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/31-drinking-drugs-religion-fate/20/)
- [He just says, «My dad's a nightmare anyway, you're not missing much,» and nicks a chip.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/525-friends-who-get-it/3/)
- ["Nicking" is British slang for stealing.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/15-taking-without-paying-the-consequences/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «nick» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/N/nick/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.