Nick vs Sting - What's the difference?
nick | sting | Related terms |
A small cut in a surface.
# A particular point or place considered as marked by a nick; the exact point or critical moment.
#*, II.20:
#* Howell
# (printing, dated) A notch cut crosswise in the shank of a type, to assist a compositor in placing it properly in the stick, and in distribution.
Meanings connoting something small.
# (cricket) A small deflection of the ball off the edge of the bat, often going to the wicket-keeper for a catch.
# (real tennis) The point where the wall of the court meets the floor.
# (genetics) One of the single-stranded DNA segments produced during nick translation.
(archaic) A nixie, or water-sprite.
* 1879 , Viktor Rydberg, The Magic of the Middle Ages (p.201)
*:imps, giants, trolls, forest-spirits, elves and hobgoblins in and on the earth; nicks , river-sprites in the water, fiends in the air, and salamanders in the fire.
(UK, slang) In the expressions in bad nick'' and ''in good nick : condition.
* '>citation
(British, slang) A police station or prison.
To make a nick or notch in; to cut or scratch in a minor way.
# To make a cross cut or cuts on the underside of (the tail of a horse, in order to make the animal carry it higher).
# To mar; to deface; to make ragged, as by cutting nicks or notches in.
#* Prior
#* Shakespeare
To suit or fit into, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with.
* Camden
# To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time.
#* L'Estrange
# To throw or turn up (a number when playing dice); to hit upon.
#* {{quote-book, year=1773
, author=Oliver Goldsmith
, title=She Stoops to Conquer
, text=My old luck: I never nicked seven that I did not throw ames ace three times following.}}
# (cricket) to hit the ball with the edge of the bat and produce a fine deflection
(obsolete) To nickname; to style.
* Ford
(slang) To steal.
(transitive, British, slang) To arrest.
A bump left on the skin after having been stung.
A bite by an insect.
A pointed portion of an insect or arachnid used for attack.
A sharp, localised pain primarily on the epidermis
(botany) A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secretes an acrid fluid, as in nettles.
The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.
* Shakespeare
(law enforcement) A police operation in which the police pretend to be criminals in order to catch a criminal.
A short percussive phrase played by a drummer to accent the punchline in a comedy show.
A brief sequence of music used in films, TV as a form of punctuation in a dramatic or comedic scene. In certain videogames stings are used to predict immediate future actions or to illustrate a current tension or mood.
A support for a wind tunnel model which extends parallel to the air flow.
*
(figurative) The harmful or painful part of something.
* Bible, 1 Corinthians xv. 56
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=January 19
, author=Jonathan Stevenson
, title=Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal
, work=BBC
A goad; incitement.
The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying.
To hurt, usually by introducing poison or a sharp point, or both.
(of an insect) To bite.
(sometimes figurative) To hurt, to be in pain.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=January 11
, author=Jonathan Stevenson
, title=West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham
, work=BBC
(figurative) To cause harm or pain to.
Nick is a related term of sting.
As a proper noun nick
is a diminutive of the male given name nicholas.As a noun sting is
a bump left on the skin after having been stung.As a verb sting is
to hurt, usually by introducing poison or a sharp point, or both.nick
English
(wikipedia nick)Noun
(en noun)- in the nick of time
- Truely he flies when he is even upon the nicke , and naturally hasteneth to escape it, as from a step whereon he cannot stay or containe himselfe, and feareth to sinke into it.
- to cut it off in the very nick
- a user's reserved nick on an IRC network
- The car I bought was cheap and in good nick .
- He was arrested and taken down to Sun Hill nick [police station] to be charged.
- He's just been released from Shadwell nick [prison] after doing ten years for attempted murder.
Derived terms
* in the nick of timeVerb
(en verb)- I nicked myself while I was shaving.
- And thence proceed to nicking sashes.
- The itch of his affection should not then / Have nicked his captainship.
- Words nicking and resembling one another are applicable to different significations.
- The just season of doing things must be nicked , and all accidents improved.
- For Warbeck, as you nick him, came to me.
- Someone's nicked my bike!
- The police nicked him climbing over the fence of the house he'd broken into.
sting
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- the lurking serpent's mortal sting
- The sting of death is sin.
citation, page= , passage=Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air. }}
- (Shakespeare)
Synonyms
* (pointed portion of an insect) stingerEtymology 2
From (etyl) stingen, from (etyl) . Compare Swedish and Icelandic stinga.Verb
- Right so came out an adder of a little heathbush, and it stung a knight in the foot.
- Still, it stung when a slightly older acquaintance asked me why I couldn't do any better.
- My hand stings after knocking on the door so long.
citation, page= , passage=But Birmingham were clearly stung by some harsh words from manager Alex McLeish at the break and within 15 minutes of the restart the game had an entirely different complexion.}}
- I thought I could park in front of the hotel, but they stung me for five pounds!