Nobble vs Nibble - What's the difference?
nobble | nibble |
(British, Australia, slang) To injure or obstruct intentionally; batter.
* 2011 , Terry Ryder, "
* 2012 , Gavin Clarke, "
*2012 , "
*:His main fear is that the fledgling technology could have its wings clipped by traditional manufacturers, who will doubtless view it as a threat to their livelihoods, and do all in their powers to nobble it.
(British, slang) To gain influence by corrupt means or intimidation.
*2000 , Italo Pardo, Morals of Legitimacy: Between Agency and System , page 122
*2002 , Kevin Jefferys, Labour Forces: From Ernie Bevin to Gordon Brown , page 107
*:For example jury trials were reformed to allow majority verdicts, so that criminals could less easily nobble them.
*2012 , Mark Hagger, William: King and Conqueror , page 75
*:Here, though, Picot's overbearing power, and the fact that the bishop was an absentee, meant that the sheriff could use threats to "nobble" the judges.
(British, slang) To steal.
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.
To eat with small, quick bites.
* 2 November 2014 , Alex James in (The Guardian),
*: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.
To consume gradually.
* 11 May 2011 , Ann Carrns in The (New York Times),
*: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.”
(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)
As verbs the difference between nobble and nibble
is that nobble is to injure or obstruct intentionally; batter while nibble is to eat with small, quick bites.As a noun nibble is
a small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.nobble
English
Verb
(nobbl)Affordable-housing lobby out to nobble investments", The Australian , 22 October 2011:
- Their core belief, unsupported by evidence or logic, is that homes are unaffordable because investors drive up prices.
- Australians for Affordable Housing appears to think that nobbling investors will strike a telling blow for first-time buyers: remove negative gearing and increase capital gains tax, and homes will be affordable.
Google attacks Twitter's search bias claim", The Register , 11 January 2012:
- Google has come out fighting after Twitter claimed that changes to its search engine nobble results to favour Google+, damaging the internet.
3D printing: Difference Engine: The PC all over again?", The Economist , 9 September 2012:
- The jury was nobbled to delay unanimous verdict.
- Unlike "noble" vigilantes, the police and court facilities which exist are said to be inefficient and corrupt, and juries are said to be easily "nobbled " or intimidated.
Usage notes
The first meaning is employed mainly in sporting contexts, especially in horse racing. The second is used in judicial contexts, applied often to courts, juries and other judicial bodies.nibble
English
Etymology 1
Perhaps from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
* nibblyVerb
(nibbl)- The rabbit nibbled the lettuce.
The day I came face-to-face with a tiger
- He nibbled at my neck and made me shiver.
Prepaid Cards Subject Jobless to Host of Fees
Etymology 2
From nibble', punning on the homophony of '''byte''' and ' biteAlternative forms
* nybbleNoun
(en noun)- That is, the lower nibble (the 4 bits 1010 = A) has been masked to zero.