nick — OAT · Shobdo

nick

noun

1 there was a slight nick half way up the blade:

cut, scratch, abrasion, incision, snick, scrape;

notch, chip, score, gouge, gash;

dent, indentation;

flaw, mark, blemish, defect.

2 British, informal you'll end up in the nick:

prison, jail, penal institution, place of detention, lockup, place of confinement, guardhouse, detention center;

British young offender institution;

North American penitentiary, correctional facility, jailhouse, boot camp, stockade, house of correction;

informal the clink, the slammer, inside, stir, the jug, the big house, the brig, the glasshouse;

North American, informal the can, the pen, the cooler, the joint, the pokey, the slam, the skookum house, the calaboose, the hoosegow;

British, informal , dated the chokey, bird, quod;

historical pound, roundhouse;

British, historical youth custody centre, approved school, borstal, bridewell;

Scottish, historical tollbooth;

French, , historical bastille;

North American, historical reformatory.

3 British, informal she was down at Lewisham nick, helping police with their inquiries:

police station, station;

North American precinct, station house, substation;

Indian kotwali, thana;

informal cop shop.

4 British, informal the car's in fairly good nick:

condition, repair, shape, state, state of health, order, working order, form, fettle, trim.

□ in the nick of time

they arrived in the nick of time:

just in time, not a moment too soon, almost too late, at the critical moment;

North American, informal under the wire;

archaic in the Godspeed, in the very nick.

verb

1 I didn't nick my skin even though I shaved quickly:

cut, scratch, abrade, incise, snick, scrape;

notch, chip, gouge, gash, score.

2 British, informal he says you nicked his wallet:

steal, purloin, thieve, take, take for oneself, help oneself to, loot, pilfer, abscond with, run off with, appropriate, abstract, carry off, shoplift;

embezzle, misappropriate;

have one's fingers/hand in the till;

informal walk off/away with, run away/off with, rob, swipe, nab, rip off, lift, liberate, filch, snaffle, snitch, souvenir;

British, informal pinch, half-inch, whip, knock off, nobble, bone, scrump, blag;

North American, informal heist, glom;

Australian, informal snavel;

Australian, dated , informal clifty;

West Indian, informal tief;

archaic crib, hook;

rare peculate, defalcate;

(be nicked) informal walk, go walkies.

3 British, informal Steve's been nicked:

arrest, apprehend, take into custody, seize, take in, take prisoner, detain, put in jail, throw in jail;

informal pick up, run in, pull in, haul in, cop, bust, nab, nail, do, collar, feel someone's collar;

British, informal pinch.

▷antonyms release.