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in the nick of time
Slang Dictionary

nick definition


  1. tv.
    to arrest someone. (See also nicked.) : The cops nicked Paul outside his house.
  2. tv.
    to steal something. : The thugs nicked a couple of apples from the fruit stand.
  3. tv.
    to get or take something. : Tom nicked a copy of the test for Sam, who also needed one.
  4. n.
    nicotine. : I'm craving some nick.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

in the nick of time

Also, just in time. At the last moment, as in The police arrived in the nick of time, or He got there just in time for dinner. The first term began life as in the nick and dates from the 1500s, when nick meant "the critical moment" (a meaning now obsolete). The second employs just in the sense of "precisely" or "closely," a usage applied to time since the 1500s. Also see in time, def. 1.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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