Bite vs. Nip — What's the Difference?

(of a person or animal) use the teeth to cut into something

Nip is an ethnic slur against people of Japanese descent and origin. The word Nip is an abbreviation from Nippon (日本), the Japanese name for Japan.

(of a tool, tyre, boot, etc.) grip or take hold on a surface

To seize and pinch or bite

An act of biting something in order to eat it

To remove or sever by pinching or snipping

A piece cut off by biting

To bite or sting with the cold; chill.

A sharp or pungent flavour

To check or cut off the growth or development of

To cut, grip, or tear with or as if with the teeth.

To snatch up hastily.

To pierce the skin of with the teeth, fangs, or mouthparts.

To take (the property of another) unlawfully; steal.

To sting with a stinger.

To move quickly; dart.

To cut into with or as if with a sharp instrument

To sip (alcoholic liquor) in small amounts

To grip, grab, or seize

To take a sip or sips of alcoholic liquor

To eat into; corrode.

The act or an instance of seizing or pinching.

To cause to sting or be painful

A pinch or snip that cuts off or removes a small part

To grip, cut into, or injure something with or as if with the teeth.

The small bit or portion so removed

To have a stinging effect.

A sharp, stinging quality, as of frosty air.

To have a sharp taste.

Severely sharp cold or frost.

To take or swallow bait.

A cutting remark.

To be taken in by a ploy or deception

A sharp, biting flavor; a tang

Vulgar Slang To be highly disagreeable or annoying.

A small amount of liquor.

The act of biting.

A small quantity of something edible or a potable liquor.

A skin wound or puncture produced by an animal's teeth or mouthparts

A nipple, usually of a woman.

A stinging or smarting sensation.

A playful bite.

An incisive, penetrating quality

A pinch with the nails or teeth.

An amount removed by or as if by an act of biting

Briskly cold weather.

An excerpt or fragment taken from something larger, such as a film.

A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching

An amount of food taken into the mouth at one time; a mouthful.

A small cut, or a cutting off the end.

(Informal) A light meal or snack.

(mining) A more or less gradual thinning out of a stratum.

The act or an instance of taking bait

A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.

A secure grip or hold applied by a tool or machine upon a working surface.

A biting sarcasm; a taunt.

The part of a tool or machine that presses against and maintains a firm hold on a working surface.

(nautical) A short turn in a rope.

(Dentistry) The angle at which the upper and lower teeth meet; occlusion.

(papermaking) The place of intersection where one roll touches another

The corrosive action of acid upon an etcher's metal plate.

A pickpocket.

(Slang) An amount of money appropriated or withheld

A hamburger.

(transitive) To cut into something by clamping the teeth.

To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.

(transitive) To hold something by clamping one's teeth.

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

(intransitive) To attack with the teeth.

To benumb [e.g., cheeks, fingers, nose] by severe cold.

(intransitive) To behave aggressively; to reject advances.

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

(intransitive) To take hold; to establish firm contact with.

To annoy, as by nipping.

(intransitive) To have significant effect, often negative.

To taunt.

To bite a baited hook or other lure and thus be caught.

To squeeze or pinch.

To accept something offered, often secretly or deceptively, to cause some action by the acceptor.

To steal; especially to cut a purse.

To sting.

To affect [one] painfully; to cause physical pain.'

(intransitive) To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent.

(informal) To make a quick, short journey or errand, usually a round trip.

To cause sharp pain or damage to; to hurt or injure.

A sip or small draught; esp., a draught of intoxicating liquor; a dram.

(intransitive) To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.

A seizing or closing in upon; a pinching; as, in the northern seas, the nip of masses of ice.

(intransitive) To take or keep a firm hold.

A pinch with the nails or teeth.

(transitive) To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to.

A small cut, or a cutting off the end.

To lack quality; to be worthy of derision; to suck.

A blast; a killing of the ends of plants by frost.

To perform oral sex on. Used in invective.

A biting sarcasm; a taunt.

To plagiarize, to imitate.

A short turn in a rope.

(obsolete) To deceive or defraud; to take in.

To catch and inclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.

The act of biting.

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

The wound left behind after having been bitten.

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

The swelling of one's skin caused by an insect's mouthparts or sting.

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

A piece of food of a size that would be produced by biting; a mouthful.

A small drink of liquor;

(slang) Something unpleasant.

A person of Japanese descent

(slang) An act of plagiarism.

A tart spiciness

A small meal or snack.

A small drink

(figuratively) aggression

Small sharp biting

The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.

Squeeze tightly between the fingers;

A cheat; a trick; a fraud.

Give a small sharp bite to;

A sharper; one who cheats.

Sever or remove by pinching or snipping;

(printing) A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.

(slang) A cut, a proportion of profits; an amount of money.

(television) sound bite

To seize with the teeth, so that they enter or nip the thing seized; to lacerate, crush, or wound with the teeth; as, to bite an apple; to bite a crust; the dog bit a man.

To puncture, abrade, or sting with an organ (of some insects) used in taking food.

To cause sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth.

To cheat; to trick; to take in.

To take hold of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the anchor bites the ground.

To seize something forcibly with the teeth; to wound with the teeth; to have the habit of so doing; as, does the dog bite?

To cause a smarting sensation; to have a property which causes such a sensation; to be pungent; as, it bites like pepper or mustard.

To cause sharp pain; to produce anguish; to hurt or injure; to have the property of so doing.

To take a bait into the mouth, as a fish does; hence, to take a tempting offer.

To take or keep a firm hold; as, the anchor bites.

The act of seizing with the teeth or mouth; the act of wounding or separating with the teeth or mouth; a seizure with the teeth or mouth, as of a bait; as, to give anything a hard bite.

The act of puncturing or abrading with an organ for taking food, as is done by some insects.

The wound made by biting; as, the pain of a dog's or snake's bite; the bite of a mosquito.

A morsel; as much as is taken at once by biting.

The hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted, or the hold which one part of a machine has upon another.

A cheat; a trick; a fraud.

A sharper; one who cheats.

A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.

A wound resulting from biting by an animal or a person

A small amount of solid food; a mouthful;

A painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin

A light informal meal

(angling) an instance of a fish taking the bait;

Wit having a sharp and caustic quality;

A strong odor or taste property;

The act of gripping or chewing off with the teeth and jaws

A portion removed from the whole;

To grip, cut off, or tear with or as if with the teeth or jaws;

Cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort;

Penetrate or cut, as with a knife;

Deliver a sting to;