from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
intransitive verb To bite at gently and repeatedly.
intransitive verb To eat with small, quick bites or in small morsels.
intransitive verb To wear away or diminish bit by bit.
intransitive verb To take small or hesitant bites.
noun A very small quantity, especially of food; a morsel.
noun The act or an instance of nibbling.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun The act of nibbling; a little bite; also, a small morsel or bit.
To eat by biting or gnawing off small bits; gnaw.
To bite very slightly or gently; bite off small pieces of.
To catch; nab.
To bite gently; bite off small pieces: as, fishes nibble at the bait.
Figuratively, to carp; make a petty attack: with at.
To fidget the fingers about.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
transitive verb To bite by little at a time; to seize gently with the mouth; to eat slowly or in small bits.
noun A small or cautious bite.
noun An expression of interest, often tentative, as at the beginning of a sale or negotiation process.
transitive verb To bite upon something gently or cautiously; to eat a little of a thing, as by taking small bits cautiously.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun A small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.
noun in the plural, nibbles Small snacks such as crisps/potato chips or nuts, often eaten to accompany drinks.
verb transitive To eat with small, quick bites.
verb transitive To bite lightly.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
verb bite off very small pieces
noun a small byte
verb bite gently
verb eat intermittently; take small bites of
noun gentle biting
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English nebyllen; akin to Low German nibbelen.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Perhaps from Middle Low German nibbelen ("to gnaw").
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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.
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.
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.
sionnach commented on the word nibble
4 bits (half a byte)
July 28, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word nibble
See also mibble.
October 11, 2008
wytukaze commented on the word nibble
also written as nybble
November 20, 2008