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nib

noun

  1. type of pen point
L15639 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /nɪb/

adj

  1. Abbreviation of new in box: Of a product that is the subject of a consumer sale: new and still in its original packaging; not used.

noun

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

  1. The tip of a pen or tool that touches the surface, transferring ink to paper.

    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.

    Ford, whose often acid nib belied a deep love of all things Iberian, is one of 20 British authors profiled in a new Spanish book[…].

  2. A bird's beak.
  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.

    the little nib or fructifying principle

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

verb

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

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

    In nibbing the pen, place the inside of the point flat upon the nail of your left-hand thumb (holding the quill between the first and second finger of that hand), and let the whole length of the split be extended thereon, to steady the pen as much as possible […]