Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The sharpened point of a quill pen.
  • noun A tapered point of a pen, designed to be inserted into a penholder or fountain pen.
  • noun A sharp point or tip.
  • noun A bird's beak or bill.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To nibble.
  • To furnish with a nib or point; mend or trim the nib of, as a pen.
  • noun The beak or bill, as of a bird; neb.
  • noun The point of anything, as the pointed end of a pen or the extremity or toe of a crowbar.
  • noun A small pen of the usual form for insertion in a penholder.
  • noun The handle of a scythesnath, to which it is attached by a sliding ring that can be tightened by a bolt or wedge.
  • noun A separate adjustable limb of a permutation-key.
  • noun In the picker of a loom fitted with a drop-box for carrying two or more shuttles, a projection from the back side of the picker, working in a groove or guide-way, and coöperating with the pickerspindle to reduce friction and cause the picker to strike squarely against the end of the shuttle.
  • noun See coffee-nib and cacao.
  • noun The tip or growing point of an oyster-shell.
  • noun The button or nodule of graphitic carbon which is sometimes deposited upon the negative terminal by an electric arc between carbon poles.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To furnish with a nib; to point; to mend the point of.
  • noun A small and pointed thing or part; a point; a prong.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The bill or beak of a bird; the neb.
  • noun The points of a pen; also, the pointed part of a pen; a short pen adapted for insertion in a holder.
  • noun Prov. Eng., Prov. Eng. One of the handles which project from a scythe snath
  • noun See his nibs, below.
  • noun [Colloq.] Someone who gives a command or makes a demand, often one who acts in a self-important manner, sometimes one with authority; -- used mockingly as a jocose term, as if a title of honor, but not usually in the presence of the person referred to, and usually indicating resentment or contempt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The tip of a pen or tool that touches the surface.
  • noun The bill or beak of a bird; the neb.
  • noun Bits of trapped dust or other foreign material that form imperfections in painted or varnished surfaces.
  • noun Partially processed cocoa bean.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun horny projecting mouth of a bird
  • noun the writing point of a pen

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of neb.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • The remainder of cocoa pod seeds after they've been fermented, dried, and roasted

    February 9, 2007

  • Bin in reverse.

    November 3, 2007