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Nibble vs Swallow - What's the difference?

nibble | swallow |

In transitive terms the difference between nibble and swallow

is that nibble is to bite lightly while swallow is to accept easily or without questions; to believe, accept.

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

    swallow

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) swolowen, swolwen, . See also (l). The noun is from late (etyl) , from the verb.

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l) (obsolete)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause (food, drink etc.) to pass from the mouth into the stomach; to take into the stomach through the throat.
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4:
    • What the liquor was I do not know, but it was not so strong but that I could swallow it in great gulps and found it less burning than my burning throat.
  • * 2011 , Jonathan Jones, The Guardian , 21 Apr 2011:
    • Clothes are to be worn and food is to be swallowed : they remain trapped in the physical world.
  • To take (something) in so that it disappears; to consume, absorb.
  • * John Locke
    • The necessary provision of the life swallows the greatest part of their time.
  • * 2010 , "What are the wild waves saying", The Economist , 28 Oct 2010:
    • His body, like so many others swallowed by the ocean’s hungry maw, was never found.
  • To take food down into the stomach; to make the muscular contractions of the oesophagus to achieve this, often taken as a sign of nervousness or strong emotion.
    • My throat was so sore that I was unable to swallow .
  • * 1979 , VC Andrews, Flowers in the Attic :
    • She swallowed nervously then, appearing near sick with what she had to say.
  • To accept easily or without questions; to believe, accept.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • Though that story be not so readily swallowed .
  • * 2011 , Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian , 22 Apr 2011:
    • Americans swallowed his tale because they wanted to.
  • To engross; to appropriate; usually with up .
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Homer excels in this, that he swallowed up the honour of those who succeeded him.
  • To retract; to recant.
    • to swallow one's opinions
  • * Shakespeare
    • swallowed his vows whole
  • To put up with; to bear patiently or without retaliation.
    • to swallow an affront or insult
    Derived terms
    * bitter pill to swallow * swallowable * swallow one's pride * swallow up

    See also

    * dysphagia

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A deep chasm or abyss in the earth.
  • The amount swallowed in one gulp; the act of swallowing.
    • He took the aspirin with a single swallow of water.

    Etymology 2

    (wikipedia swallow) (etyl) swealwe, from Germanic. Cognate with Danish svale, Dutch zwaluw, German Schwalbe, Swedish svala.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small, migratory bird of the Hirundinidae family with long, pointed, moon-shaped wings and a forked tail which feeds on the wing by catching insects.
  • (nautical) The aperture in a block through which the rope reeves.
    • Synonyms
    * (small bird of Hirundunudae) martlet * barn swallow (official British name)
    Derived terms
    * one swallow does not make a summer * swallow-tailed

    Anagrams

    * wallows