▪ I. ˈniblick, n.
[Of obscure formation.]
A golf club having a small, round, heavy head, used when some force is necessary to take the ball out of a bad lie. Also attrib.
| 1857 H. B. Farnie Golfer's Manual (1947) iii. 18 It is called a Niblick. 1862 Rambling Rem. Golf 18 The Niblick, or Track-Iron, is of very important service when the ball lies in a narrow cart-rut. Ibid., The faces..of the spoons, sand-iron, and niblick are hollowed or ‘spooned’. 1886 H. G. Hutchinson Hints on Golf xiii. 33 In the typical niblick shot the ball lies in a heel⁓mark or other cup in the sand, with the face of the bunker in front. 1894 Black Highl. Cousins I. 35, I smashed my iron niblick clean in two. 1909 Bystander 13 Oct. 90/2 Herd..saved an apparently lost hole by a most masterly niblick pitch. 1955 R. Browning Hist. Golf 145 Even the niblicks were originally wooden clubs: the first iron-headed niblicks were excessively short in the blade. 1961 M. Spark Prime of Miss Jean Brodie v. 141 Sandy gave a hack with her niblick. |
▪ II. ˈniblick, v. Golf.
[f. the n.]
trans. To hit (a ball) with a niblick.
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 15 Jan. 4/2 If bunkered..he would have to niblick the ball out sideways. |