Nibble vs Prick - What's the difference?

In lang=en terms the difference between nibble and prick

is that nibble is to bite lightly while prick is to become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.

As nouns the difference between nibble and prick

is that nibble is a small, quick bite taken with the front teeth or nibble can be (computing) a unit of memory equal to half a byte, or four bitshttp://foldocorg/nibble while prick is a small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.

As verbs the difference between nibble and prick

is that nibble is to eat with small, quick bites while prick is to pierce or puncture slightly.

nibble

English

Etymology 1

Perhaps from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

A small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.

(in the plural, nibbles) Small snacks such as crisps/potato chips or nuts, often eaten to accompany drinks.

Derived terms

* nibbly

Verb

(nibbl)

To eat with small, quick bites.

The rabbit nibbled the lettuce.

* 2 November 2014 , Alex James in (The Guardian), The day I came face-to-face with a tiger

*:Giant parrots nibbled seed from the children's fingertips and my sister peeled a couple of satsumas for the lemurs.

* 1911 , (Rudyard Kipling), Big Steamers

*:"For the bread that you eat and the biscuits you nibble ,

*:The sweets that you suck and the joints that you carve,

*:They are brought to you daily by all us Big Steamers--

*:And if anyone hinders our coming you'll starve!"

To bite lightly.

He nibbled at my neck and made me shiver.

To consume gradually.

* 11 May 2011 , Ann Carrns in The (New York Times), Prepaid Cards Subject Jobless to Host of Fees

*:A report out this week from the National Consumer Law Center lays out a host of ways in which banks nibble away at jobless benefits with fees the center called “junk.”

Etymology 2

From nibble', punning on the homophony of '''byte''' and ' bite

Alternative forms

* nybble

Noun

(en noun)

(computing) A unit of memory equal to half a byte, or four bits.http://foldoc.org/nibble

* 1993 , Richard E. Haskell, Introduction to computer engineering (page 287)

That is, the lower nibble (the 4 bits 1010 = A) has been masked to zero.

References

prick

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) prik, prikke, from (etyl) prica, . Pejorative context came from prickers, or witch-hunters.

Noun

(en noun)

A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.

An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object.

(obsolete) A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point.

(obsolete) A tiny particle; a small amount of something; a jot.

A small pointed object.

* Shakespeare

Pins, wooden pricks , nails, sprigs of rosemary.

* Bible, Acts ix. 5

It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks .

The experience or feeling of being pierced or punctured by a small, sharp object.

I felt a sharp prick as the nurse took a sample of blood.

* A. Tucker

the pricks of conscience

(slang, vulgar) The penis.

(slang, pejorative) Someone (especially a man or boy) who is unpleasant, rude or annoying.

(now, historical) A small roll of yarn or tobacco.

The footprint of a hare.

(obsolete) A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.

* Shakespeare

the prick of noon

(obsolete) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.

* Spenser

they that shooten nearest the prick

Derived terms

* pricker * prickle * prickly * pricktease * prickteaser

Etymology 2

From (etyl) .

Verb

(en verb)

To pierce or puncture slightly.

John hardly felt the needle prick his arm when the adept nurse drew blood.

To form by piercing or puncturing.

to prick holes in paper

to prick a pattern for embroidery

to prick the notes of a musical composition

(Cowper)

(dated) To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.

A sore finger pricks .

To incite, stimulate, goad.

* (rfdate), (Shakespeare), (Two Gentlemen of Verona) , ii. 7.

My duty pricks me on to utter that.

To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.

* Bible, Acts ii. 37

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.

* Tennyson

I was pricked with some reproof.

(archaic) To urge one's horse on; to ride quickly.

(Milton)

* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.1:

At last, as through an open plaine they yode, / They spide a knight that towards them pricked fayre [...].

* 1881 , :

Indeed, it is a memorable subject for consideration, with what unconcern and gaiety mankind pricks on along the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

(transitive, chiefly, nautical) To mark the surface of (something) with pricks or dots; especially, to trace a ship’s course on (a chart).

(nautical, obsolete) To run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail. (The Universal Dictionary of the English Language, 1896)

To make acidic or pungent.

(Hudibras)

To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.

To aim at a point or mark.

(Hawkins)

To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.

to prick a knife into a board

* Sandys

The cooks prick it [a slice] on a prong of iron.

(Isaac Newton)

(obsolete) To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark.

* Francis Bacon

Some who are pricked for sheriffs.

* Sir Walter Scott

Let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off.

* Shakespeare

Those many, then, shall die: their names are pricked .

To make sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as something pointed; said especially of the ears of an animal, such as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up .

* Dryden

The courser pricks up his ears.

(obsolete) To dress; to prink; usually with up .

(farriery) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.

(Webster 1913)