n. [ A variabt of neb. ] 1. A small and pointed thing or part; a point; a prong. “The little nib or fructifying principle.” Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The bill or beak of a bird; the neb. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The points of a pen; also, the pointed part of a pen; a short pen adapted for insertion in a holder. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. One of the handles which project from a scythe snath; also, [ Prov. Eng. ], the shaft of a wagon. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. pl. See his nibs, below. [ PJC ]

his nibs Someone who gives a command or makes a demand, often one who acts in a self-important manner, sometimes one with authority; -- used mockingly as a jocose term, as if a title of honor, but not usually in the presence of the person referred to, and usually indicating resentment or contempt. [ Colloq. ] [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Nebbed p. pr. & vb. n. Nibbing. ] To furnish with a nib; to point; to mend the point of; as, to nib a pen. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a nib or point. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Nibbled p. pr. & vb. n. Nibbling ] [ Cf. Nip. ] To bite by little at a time; to seize gently with the mouth; to eat slowly or in small bits. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To bite upon something gently or cautiously; to eat a little of a thing, as by taking small bits cautiously; as, fishes nibble at the bait. [ 1913 Webster ]

Instead of returning a full answer to my book, he manifestly falls a-nibbling at one single passage. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A small or cautious bite. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: (Fig.) An expression of interest, often tentative, as at the beginning of a sale or negotiation process. [ PJC ]

n. One who, or that which, nibbles. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a nibbling manner; cautiously. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ G. See Nibelungs; Lied. ] A great medieval German epic of unknown authorship containing traditions which refer to the Burgundians at the time of Attila (called Etzel in the poem) and mythological elements pointing to heathen times. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. pl.; sing. Nibelung /sing>. In German mythology, the children of the mist, a race of dwarfs or demonic beings, the original possessors of the famous hoard and ring won by Siegfrid; also, the Burgundian kings in the Nibelungenlied. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]