gave me a parking ticket. Three of New
York’s finest were standing there at my
door with my lost dog.nibble 1. n. a cautious or preliminary re-
sponse to something. (See also nybble.)
My advertisement got three nibbles this
morning. We will see if anyone else gives
it a nibble. 2. in. to reply cautiously or
tentatively to something. Someone nib-
bled at your want ad. I hope someone
who wants to buy my car nibbles at the de-
scription I posted on the Internet.
nice meeting youtv. it is nice to have met
you. (Said when leaving someone whose
acquaintance you have just made.) I
must go now, Fred. Nice meeting you.
Well, nice meeting you. I must get home
now.
nice talking to youin. it’s been pleasant,
good-bye. (A leave taking formula, some-
times with an air of dismissal.) Do tell.
Well, nice talking to you. Nice talking to
you. Call my service.
nick 1. tv. to arrest someone. (See also
nicked.) The cops nicked Paul outside
his house. They are going to nick Joe,
too. 2. tv. to steal something. The thugs
nicked a couple of apples from the fruit
stand. Don’t ever nick anything! Do you
hear me? 3. tv. to get or take something.
Would you please nick me a slice of
bread? Tom nicked a copy of the test for
Sam, who also needed one.
nickedmod. arrested. Paul was nicked
last night. “Now I’m nicked,” he said.
nickel and dime someone (to death)tv.
to make numerous small monetary
charges that add up to a substantial sum.
Those waiters nickel and dimed me to
death. Just give me the whole bill at one
time. Don’t nickel and dime me for days
on end.
niftymod. neat; smart. That is a pretty
nifty car you have there. Yes, it is nifty.
night personn. a person who prefers to
be active in the nighttime. (The plural is
with people. Compare this with day per-
son.) I can’t function in the morning.
I’m strictly a night person. Night people
prefer to sleep in the daytime.
nimrod[“nImrad] n. a simpleton; a nerd.
Susan is a total nimrod. She does such
dumb things! What stupid nimrod left
the lid off the cottage cheese?
nineteenth holen. a place to buy an al-
coholic beverage after a golf game.
(Likely to be filled with golfers who have
played eighteen holes of golf.) All off
us gathered at the nineteenth hole to cele-
brate a great match. I hit a hole-in-one
on the first hole and went straight to the
nineteenth hole to celebrate.
nine-to-fivemod. typical in terms of
working hours; structured and sched-
uled, starting and ending at set times.
(From the expression from nine to five,
normal working hours.) I work nine-
to-five. I really wanted a nine-to-five
job until I finally got one. I can’t stand
the nine-to-five rat race.
nip 1. n. a small, quick drink of liquor.
Here, have a nip of this stuff. One nip
is enough. That is powerful! 2. in. to take
small drinks of liquor periodically. (See
also nipped.) Paul has been nipping
since noon. After nipping all day, Fred
was pretty well stewed by dinnertime. 3.
tv. to steal something. The thief nipped
my purse. The punk kid nipped two
candy bars from the drugstore.
nip and tuckmod. so close as to be almost
the same; neck and neck. They ran nip
and tuck all the way to the finish line, but
Tom won the race. It was too close to
call—nip and tuck all the way.
nippedmod. alcohol intoxicated. (See also
nip.) All four of them went out and got
nipped. How can anybody be so nipped
on four beers?
nippersn. handcuffs; leg fetters. The
cops put the nippers on the crooks. No,
not the nippers. They hurt my arms.
nipplymod. [of weather] cold. (A play on
nippy [weather]and what such weather
may do to the human nipples.) It’s a
little nipply out this morning.
nitery[“naIt#i] n. a nightclub. We’ll hit
a few niteries and then come back to my
place. There is a cheap nitery over on
Twelfth Street where Chuck has a job.nibble