nippy

«nippy» in Mova's school dictionary: cold, especially with a sharp, biting chill: a nippy morning — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (nippy, nippier, nippiest)

meaning for a pupil

1) (informal, UK and Australia) Nippy means cold, especially with a sharp, biting chill: a nippy morning. tree →

2) (informal) Nippy means quick and lively, able to move fast: a nippy little car. tree →

3) (rare) Nippy describes a dog likely to nip or bite. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday British and Australian talk «It's a bit nippy out» means it is cold, so take a coat. In sport a nippy winger is fast and hard to catch. Phrases: «a bit nippy», «nippy little car», «nippy winger».

examples

• Wrap up warm, it's a bit nippy this morning. tree →
• The wind was nippy on the beach. tree →
• Our new car is small and nippy in traffic. tree →
• She's a nippy little player who dodges every tackle. tree →
• That terrier can be nippy with strangers. tree →
• It gets nippy at night in the desert. tree →
• “You’re so nippy at it,” John said, “couldn’t you do it very slowly once?” tree →

note

Informal, friendly word. Comparatives «nippier», «nippiest». From «nip» (a small bite, or a sharp chill). «Nippy» means fairly cold, not freezing.

In the corpora

• In Scots «pure sound» means really nice and a «nippy sweetie» is someone sharp-tongued.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «nippy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.