Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Nip \Nip\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Nipped}, less properly {Nipt};
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Nipping}.] [OE. nipen; cf. D. niipen to
   pinch, also knippen to nip, clip, pinch, snap, knijpen to
   pinch, LG. knipen, G. kneipen, kneifen, to pinch, cut off,
   nip, Lith. knebti.]
   1. To catch and inclose or compress tightly between two
      surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed;
      to pinch; to close in upon.

            May this hard earth cleave to the Nadir hell, Down,
            down, and close again, and nip me flat, If I be such
            a traitress.                          --Tennyson.

   2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting
      edges of anything; to clip.

            The small shoots . . . must be nipped off.
                                                  --Mortimer.

   3. Hence: To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor
      of; to destroy.

   4. To vex or pain, as by nipping; hence, to taunt.

            And sharp remorse his heart did prick and nip.
                                                  --Spenser.

   {To nip in the bud}, to cut off at the verycommencement of
      growth; to kill in the incipient stage.