It's an old thread. I have a new question for everyone. Please enlighten me.
Is it okay to say:
It's nipping out today.
I notice that "nipping" is an adjective here.
Much appreciated!
It's <nipping> out [cold]
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Is it okay to say:
It's nipping out today.
I notice that "nipping" is an adjective here.
Much appreciated!
As far as I know, no. Sorry. The word is "nippy."
Much appreciated, User With No Name. I wonder if there's one possible context for "nipping" to be used as an adjective.
No natural example occurs to me at the moment.
"Nipping" is an adjective used to describe a sensation of cold, typically referring to a slight but chilly wind or breeze that is felt on the skin. The term can also be used to describe a feeling of coldness in general, or to describe the weather as being cold enough to cause one's skin to feel nipped or bitten by the cold.
Example -"The nipping cold air made me pull my scarf tighter around my neck."
Example -"The nipping cold air made me pull my scarf tighter around my neck."
Not in US-English. Obviously, that's not the only variety of English in the world, but there are rather a lot of us, so it all depends on your intended audience or readership.
It's nippy out here! I'm just nipping back inside to grab a coat. And then I'll nip to the shop to get some caviar and pizza for breakfast.
I am not familiar with this expression.
In a well known poem, “peace comes dropping slow”, which could be analysed syntactically in a similar way.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats | Poetry Foundation
Australia's a pretty hot country in general, but in some places it gets very nippy ... never nipping. I once knew a pesky little dog that always tried to nip people. It wouldn't stop nipping.
"nippy" is an adjective, "nipping" is the present participle of the verb "to nip". Cf. "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose" from "The Christmas Song", famously sung by Nat "King" Cole.
Yes, but I suggest that you never use it. Without exception, the following sound unnatural
I for one would be precisely 100% more likely to use biting than nipping to describe a cold wind or a severe frost.