Noun: nibble
| Singular | nibble |
| Plural | nibbles |
Sample Sentences
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[H]e would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar's lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble. [1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Rip Van Winkle”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number I, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 63:]
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Yo'r sheep will be a' folded, a reckon, Measter Pratt, for there'll ne'er be a nibble o' grass to be seen this two month, according to my reading; […] [1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “New Year’s Fête”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 268:]
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On the northern slopes of the light-earthed hills the moss had come over the herbage, and the sweet nibble of the sheep was souring. [1875, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, “Going Up the Tree”, in Alice Lorraine. A Tale of the South Downs. […], volume III, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, […], →OCLC, page 67:]
Nouns inflected like nibble
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. The 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.
2. The noun is derived from the verb.
3. Cognates
4. * Middle Dutch cnibbelen (modern Dutch knibbelen (“to gnaw; to murmur”), nibbelen (“to nibble”))
5. * Saterland Frisian nibje (“to nibble”)
6. * West Frisian knibbelje
Verbs referencing "nibble"
German Nouns
Nibble, Russian Nouns
ниббл.