1617. Fletcher, Mad Lover; i., 1. You men of wares, the men of wars will nick ye: For starve nor beg they must not.
1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. Free. I ventured my last stake upon the squire to nick him of his mother.
1727. Gay, Beggar's Opera, ii., 4. She rivetted a linen-draper's eye so fast upon her, that he was nick'd of three pieces of cambric before he could look off.
1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, vii., xii. Thinks I to myself. I'll nick you there, old cull; the devil a smack of your nonsense shall you ever get into me.
1752-1840. Darblay, Diary. I entirely depended upon it, and for four mornings was up at 7 o'clock and all the trouble and fatigue of washing face and hands quite clean, putting on clean linnen, a tidy gown and smug cap, and after all we were choused, for he nicked us entirely and never came at all.
1817. Scott, Rob Roy, iii. The polite and accomplished adventurer, who nicked you out of your money at White's.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, &c, s.v.
1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood, iv., ii. I nick the broads.
1869. Temple Bar, xxvi., 75. I bolted in and nicked a nice silver tea-pot.
1869. Echo, 9 Sept. 'Life of London Boys.' They climbed up there as they would climb anywhere—in at your window, over your hedges, where they would nick the taters, or apples, or onions, or anything else, and waste them in the kiln.
1871. Standard, 8 Sept. 'Bow St.' Shannon confessed that he himself was as big a thief as any one in London, and asked him (witness) to nick a watch, pledge it at Morris's, and give him (Shannon) the ticket, as he was determined to have Morris convicted.
1880. Punch's Almanack, 9. The Cad's Calendar. 'Ot July, just nicked a handy fiver.
1889. Sporting Times, 6 July. 'The Shah at Fleet St.' The well-known diamond aigrette and the celebrated emerald were also left behind, to the intense disgust of the staff, who had calculated on nicking out a few stones from the former.
1897. Ally Sloper's Half Holiday, 23 Oct., 342, 2. Even down to her Sunday stays, Which she calmly nicks from missus's box.
3. (old).—See quot.
1808. Jamieson, Dict., s.v. Nick. A cant word signifying, 'to drink heartily; as, he nicks fine.'
4. (old).—To break windows with copper coins. Hence, nicker = a person addicted to the practice.
1712. Gay, Trivia, iii., 313. His scattered pence the flying nicker flings.
[17?] Martinus Scriblerus [Century], Your modern musicians want art to defend their windows from common NICKERS.
1714. Lucas, Gamesters, 203. Called by the nickers and sharpers little Dick-Fisher.
1717. Prior, Alma, iii. Break watchmen's heads and chairmen's glasses, And thence proceed to nicking sashes.
1886. Braddon, Mohawks, ix. The Flying Post described how the nickers had broken all Mr. Topsparkle's windows with halfpence.
5. (old).—To fool.
1593. Shakspeare, Com. Errors, v., 1. His man with sissors nicks him like a fool.
1682. Beaumont and Fletcher, Little Thiefs. Nick him home, thou knowest she dotes on thee.
6. (old).—To score at dice.—B. E. (c. 1696); Grose (1785).
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, p. 280. To tye or nicke a caste at dice.
1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii., 1. Thou art some debauch'd drunken, leud, hectoring, gaming companion, and want'st some Widow's old gold to nick upon.
1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, iii. My old luck; I never nicked seven that I did not throw ames ace three times following.
7. (old).—To hit the mark.—B. E. (c. 1696); Grose (1785).
1690. Pagan Prince [Nares]. She nickt it, you'l say, exactly.
