▪ I. nibbling, vbl. n.
(ˈnɪblɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb, in various senses; an instance of this: a portion nibbled.
| 1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. A iv b, I tooke another nybling like a Minew about Bezaes Icones. 1672 H. More Brief Reply 46 There are some little nibblings and quibblings at my Transition which concludes this first Chapter. 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 327 All this is but nibling of Fleas. 1738 The Briton Described 49 All the Nibblings in the World shall never be able to devour the Immortality of a Name. 1813 Sir. R. Wilson Priv. Diary (1862) I. 271 The promise of the Turkish nibblings being restored to Moldavia. 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 17 Mere surface nibblings. |
2. techn. The gradual removal of small portions from the edge of a piece of glass, to reduce it to a circular form before it is ground for a lens.
| 1850 Holtzapffel Turning III. 1265 The process which is called shanking or nibbling is continued until the glasses are made circular. |
▪ II. nibbling, ppl. a.
(ˈnɪblɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. That nibbles or takes little bites.
| 1602 Middleton Blurt, Master-Constable iv. ii, The nibbling mouse is not asleep. 1624 Quarles Sion's Elegies iii. 18 The treach'rous Angler strikes his nibbling pray. 1713 C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 292 When nibbling Sheep at large pursue their Food. 1762 Beattie Pigm. & Cranes 156 Careless of nibbling bills. 1799 Southey Filbert, The mouse Gnawing with nibbling tooth the shell's defence. 1819 Wordsw. Waggoner ii. 138 You might have heard a nibbling mouse. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. (1870) I. i. 164 Nor took [he] heed Of how the nibbling dace might feed Upon the loose ends of his bait. |
| transf. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Old Margate Hoy, The nibbling pickpockets of your patience. |
b. (See quot.)
| 1889 G. Findlay Eng. Railway 112 An interesting feature of this shop is the ‘nibbling machine’, designed for cutting out the ‘throws’ in the cranks. |
2. Carping, captious.
| 1696 tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant Pref. 5, I cou'd easily dispatch such nibbling Criticks. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 253, I say nothing about the nibling Criticks. 1887 H. Morley Introd. T. L. Peacock's Crotchet C. 8 The nibbling censure of the men whose wit is tainted with ill-humour. |
3. Produced by nibbling.
| 1824 Byron Juan xvi. xx, A mouse Whose little nibbling rustle will embarrass Most people. |
Hence ˈnibblingly adv.
| 1847 in Webster; hence in later Dicts. |