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nick

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knick-knack

Any miscellaneous trinket or toy, especially one that is delicate or dainty. I loved visiting my grandmother when I was a child and examining all the various knick-knacks she'd collected around the house.

full of the devil

 and full of Old Nick

always making mischief. Little Chuckie is sure full of the devil. Toward the end of the school year, the kids are always full of Old Nick.

See also: devil, full, of

*in the (very) nick of time

Fig. just in time; at the last possible instant; just before it's too late. (*Typically: arrive ~; get there ~; happen ~; reach something ~; Save someone ~.) The doctor arrived in the nick of time. The patient's life was saved. I reached the airport in the very nick of time and made my flight.

See also: nick, of, time

nick something up

to make little dents or nicks in something, ruining the finish. Someone nicked the kitchen counter up. Who nicked up the coffeepot?

See also: nick, up

(just) in the nick of time

at the last possible moment A man walking his dog saw her fall into the river and pulled her out just in the nick of time.

See also: nick, of, time

in the nick of time

at the last possible moment

Usage notes: A nick was a mark on a stick which was used in the past to measure time.

We got there just in the nick of time. A minute later and she'd have left.

See also: nick, of, time

Old Nick

  (British & Australian old-fashioned, humorous)

the Devil (= the enemy of God in the Christian religion) In his latest film, he plays a gambler who sells his soul to Old Nick in return for winning a fortune.

See also: nick, old

in the nick of time

Also, just in time. At the last moment, as in The police arrived in the nick of time, or He got there just in time for dinner. The first term began life as in the nick and dates from the 1500s, when nick meant "the critical moment" (a meaning now obsolete). The second employs just in the sense of "precisely" or "closely," a usage applied to time since the 1500s. Also see in time, def. 1.

See also: nick, of, time

full of the devil

and full of Old Nick

mod. always making mischief. Little Chucky is sure full of the devil. All those kids are full of Old Nick.

See also: devil, full, of

full of Old Nick

verb

See full of the devil

See also: full, nick, of, old

nick

1. tv. to arrest someone. (see also nicked.) The cops nicked Paul outside his house.

2. tv. to steal something. The thugs nicked a couple of apples from the fruit stand.

3. tv. to get or take something. Tom nicked a copy of the test for Sam, who also needed one.

4. n. nicotine. I’m craving some nick.

nicked

mod. arrested. “Now I’m nicked,” he said.

See also: nick

full of the devil

Very energetic, mischievous, daring, or clever.

See also: devil, full, of

in the nick of time

Just at the critical moment; just in time.

See also: nick, of, time