nick, to cut in nicks or notches, Com. of Errors, v. 175; to clip, curtail, Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 8. In the nick, at the right moment, Othello, v. 2. 317; out of all nick, beyond all reckoning, excessively, Two Gent. iv. 2. 76. See EDD. (s.v. Nick, sb.4 1). Hence, nick, to hit off, to find out with precision; ‘You’ve nicked the channel’ (i.e. the right course), Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 4 (Ben); nicked, luckily saved, Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 1304. See EDD. (s.v. Nick, vb.2 2).
nidget, nideot, an ‘idiot’, simpleton. Spelt nigget, Middleton, The Changeling, iii. 3 (Lollio). In prov. use (EDD.).
niding; see [nithing].
niece, a grand-daughter, Richard III, iv. 1. 1; a relative, cousin (vaguely used). Greene, Alphonsus, ii, prol. 12; id., iii (Fausta, l. 939). Down to the beginning of the 17th cent. the sense of grand-daughter appears to have been common; see Trench, Select Glossary.
nifles, trifles, things of little or no value; trifling tales; ‘The fables and the nyfyls’, Heywood, A Mery Play, 434 (NED). ME. nyfles: ‘He served hem with nyfles and with fablis’ (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1760). OF. nifles (Godefroy). See EDD. (s.v. Nifle).
nifling, trifling, worthless, Lady Alimony, ii. 6. 10.
niggers, niggers-noggers, meaningless forms, used as minced oaths. Rowley, A Match at Midnight, i. 1 (Tim.); also sniggers, id.
niggish, niggardly, miserly; ‘Niggish slovenrie’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 11; ‘Nigeshe penny fathers’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 102). See Nares.
niggle, to do anything in a trifling, fiddling, ineffective way; ‘Take heed, daughter, you niggle not with your conscience’, Massinger, Emperor of the East, v. 3 (Theodosius). In prov. use with numerous variations of sense, see EDD. Norw. dial. nigla (Aasen).
night-cap, a nocturnal bully, a notorious roisterer. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 1; Devil’s Law-case, ii, 1. See [Roaring Boys].