noun General Slang

Nip

/nɪp/ · noun · slang

A cutpurse — the rogue who sliced the strings of a hanging purse and palmed the coin.

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Definitions

1

As a verb, to cut a purse or to snatch something quickly; later loosely 'to nip' anything.

“He nipped the bung clean away and was gone into the press of bodies.”
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2

A cutpurse; one who cut the strings of a purse worn at the belt and made off with it. In the canting hierarchy the nip worked the swift cut while a stall covered him.

“The nip had your purse-strings parted before the sermon was half done.”
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3

By extension, a quick small theft or a swift grab of any kind.

“Give it a nip while the cull's looking the other way.”
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Nip In A Sentence

A good nip needed steady hands and a careful stall at his shoulder.
The market was thick with nips on a feast day.
He learned to nip purses as a boy and never learned an honest trade.

Origin & Usage

Recorded in 16th-century canting literature including Robert Greene's coney-catching pamphlets (c.1591) and Harman (1566); 'nip' and 'foist' were the two halves of the purse-cutting craft. 'Bung' was the cant word for the purse itself.

Variants nippernip of the bung
Tags #thieves-cant#cant#historical#british#crime

People Also Ask

What does nip mean in thieves' cant?

A cutpurse — a thief who cut the strings of a belt-worn purse, documented in Greene's coney-catching pamphlets and Harman.

What is the difference between a nip and a foist?

A nip cut the purse away with a blade; a foist picked it by hand. Both worked the same crowds.

Where does nip come from?

From the action of 'nipping' (cutting) the purse-strings, attested in Elizabethan rogue pamphlets of the 1590s.

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