nip1

verb (nips, nipping, nipped)

• 1 [with object] pinch, squeeze, or bite sharply:the dog nipped him on the leg
• (of the cold or frost) cause sharp pain or harm to:the vegetable garden, nipped now by frost
• (nip something off) remove something by pinching or squeezing sharply.

• 2 informal defeat by a narrow margin.

• 3 [with object] US informal steal or snatch (something):if I nipped a five-dollar bill I could slip it back the next day

noun

• a sharp pinch, squeeze, or bite.
• a feeling of biting cold:there was a real winter nip in the air