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Origin and history of nipper

nipper(n.)

"small boy," 1859, originally specifically one who does errands and chores for a gang of workmen (1851), perhaps from the canting sense "pickpocket, one who 'pinches' other people's property" (1530s; see nip (v.)). Nippers "pincer-like tool with cutting jaws," used by metal-workers, wire-drawers, etc., is from 1540s.

also from 1859

Entries linking to nipper

nip(v.)

late 14c., nippen, "to pinch sharply; to bite suddenly," probably from or related to Middle Low German nipen "to nip, to pinch," German nippen, Middle Dutch nipen "to pinch," Dutch nijpen, Old Norse hnippa "to prod," but the exact evolution of the stem is obscure. Related: Nipped; nipping.

Meaning "break off the tip by pinching" is from c. 1400. Sense of "blast as by frost, check the growth or vigor of" is from 1580s. To nip (something) in the bud in the figurative sense of "kill or destroy in the first stage of growth" is recorded from c. 1600. Slang nip in, nip out, etc., in which the sense of the verb is "move rapidly or nimbly" is attested from 1825.

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    Trends of nipper

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    claw
    "sharp, hooked, horny end of the limb of a mammal, bird, reptile, etc.," Old English clawu, earlier clea, "claw, talon, iron hook," from Proto-Germanic *klawo (source also of Old Frisian klawe "claw, hoe," Middle Dutch klouwe, Dutch klauw, Old High German klawa, German Klaue "cla
    child
    Old English cild "fetus, infant, unborn or newly born person," from Proto-Germanic *kiltham (source also of Gothic kilþei "womb," inkilþo "pregnant;" Danish kuld "children of the same marriage;" Old Swedish kulder "litter;" Old English cildhama "womb," lit. "child-home"); it has
    kid
    c. 1200, "the young of a goat," from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse kið "young goat," from Proto-Germanic *kidjom (source also of Old High German kizzi, German kitze, Danish and Swedish kid), a word of uncertain origin. The extended meaning "child" is recorded as slang b
    changeling
    1550s, "one given to change," from change (n.) + diminutive suffix -ling. The meaning "person or thing left in place of one secretly taken" is from 1560s; the specific reference to an infant or young child (usually stupid, strange, or ugly) superstitiously believed to have been l
    rapscallion
    "A rascally, disorderly, or despicable person" [Century Dictionary], 1690s, alteration of rascallion (1640s), a fanciful elaboration of rascal (q.v.). It had a parallel in now-extinct rampallion (1590s), from Middle English ramp (n.2) "ill-behaved woman." Also compare rascabilian
    piccaninny
    also pickaninny, "a baby," especially, as used by Europeans, one of any of the black races, 1650s, from West Indies patois, formed as a diminutive from Spanish pequeño or Portuguese pequeno "little, small," a word of uncertain origin, related to French petit (see petit (adj.)). N
    extremity
    late 14c., "one of two things at the extreme ends of a scale," from Old French estremite (13c.), from Latin extremitatem (nominative extremitas) "the end of a thing," from extremus "outermost;" see extreme (adj.), the etymological sense of which is better preserved in this word.
    bairn
    "child" (of either gender or any age), "son or daughter," Old English bearn "child, son, descendant," from Proto-Germanic *barnan (source also of Old Saxon barn, Old Frisian bern, Old High German barn "child;" lost in modern German and Dutch), from PIE root *bher- (1) "to carry,"
    brain
    "soft, grayish mass filling the cranial cavity of a vertebrate," in the broadest sense, "organ of consciousness and the mind," Old English brægen "brain," from Proto-Germanic *bragnan (source also of Middle Low German bregen, Old Frisian and Dutch brein), a word of uncertain orig
    rascal
    mid-14c., rascaile "people of the lowest class, the general mass; rabble or foot-soldiers of an army" (senses now obsolete), also singular, "low, tricky, dishonest person," from Old French rascaille "rabble, mob" (12c., Modern French racaille), as Cotgrave's French-English Dictio

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    Dictionary entries near nipper
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