nibble
An act of taking a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, especially with the…An act of taking a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, especially with the front teeth; the bite or bites so taken.
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» Tom is nibbling on a carrot stick.
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8 languagesExamples
33 sentencesTom is nibbling on a carrot stick.
The lambs nibble grass all day.
Gabor was nibbling on some doritos.
Meaning
6 sensesAn act of taking a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, especially with the front teeth; the bite or bites so taken.
A unit of memory equal to half a byte, or chiefly four bits.
Nibble
полуба́йтpolubájt, тетра́даtetráda, нибблnibbl
напівба́йтnapivbájt, тетра́даtetráda, нібблnibbl
A light bite of a person or animal, or part of their body, especially one which is loving or playful; a nip.
More meanings 3
An amount of food that is or can be taken into the mouth through a small bite; a small mouthful.
(figuratively)A slight show of interest in something, such as a commercial opportunity or a proposal.
(obsolete, rare)Grass or other vegetation eaten by livestock; forage, pasturage.
- a small byte
- gentle biting
Origin
The verb is derived from Late Middle English nebillen, nebyll (“to peck away at (somethingThe verb is derived from Late Middle English nebillen, nebyll (“to peck away at (something), nibble; (figurative) to attempt to sing (a part of a song)”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Middle Low German nibbelen (“to eat in small bites, peck”) (modern German Low German nibbeln, gnibbeln, knibbeln), possibly a variant of knabbelen, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnet- (“to press”) or imitative.
A pun on the homophony of byte and bite.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: nibblesSynonyms
1 synonyms- a small byte:nybble
Word family
4 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.