different between nibs vs nib

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

See nib

Noun

nibs

1. plural of nib

Etymology 2

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

nibs (plural nibs)

1. (slang, Britain, after possessive pronoun) An important or self-important person.
2. (slang, Britain, dated, 19th century, after possessive pronoun) Self.
3. (cribbage) a jack turned up by the dealer. (see also nob)

   Two for his nibs.

See also

• himself

Anagrams

• ISBN, NiSb, bins, snib

English

Alternative forms

• knib (obsolete)

Etymology

From a variant of neb, perhaps due to association with nibble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?b/
• Rhymes: -?b

Noun

nib (plural nibs)

1. The tip of a pen or tool that touches the surface, transferring ink to paper.
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1

     Slowly welling from the point of her gold nib, pale blue ink dissolved the full stop; for there her pen stuck; her eyes fixed, and tears slowly filled them.

2. The bill or beak of a bird; the neb.
3. Bits of trapped dust or other foreign material that form imperfections in painted or varnished surfaces.
4. A piece of a roasted, hulled cocoa bean.
5. A small and pointed thing or part; a point; a prong.
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus

     the little nib or fructifying principle

6. One of the handles projecting from a scythe snath.
7. The shaft of a wagon.

Synonyms

• (handle projecting from a scythe snath): thole

Derived terms

• denib

Translations

Verb

nib (third-person singular simple present nibs, present participle nibbing, simple past and past participle nibbed)

1. (transitive) To fit (a pen) with a nib.

Anagrams

• BNI, NBI, bin, ibn