Nibble

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪbÉ™l

Perhaps from Middle Low German nibbelen ("to gnaw"), akin to modern Low German nibbeln ("to gnaw") and Dutch nibbelen ("to nibble").

Full definition of nibble

Noun

1. A small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.
2. (in the plural, nibbles) Small snacks such as crisps/potato chips or nuts, often eaten to accompany drinks.

Derived terms

• nibbly

Verb

1. (transitive) To eat with small, quick bites.The rabbit nibbled the lettuce.
2. (transitive) To bite lightly.He nibbled at my neck and made me shiver.

From nibble, punning on the homophony of byte and bite

Alternative forms

• nybble

Noun

1. (computing) A unit of memory equal to half a byte, or four bits.http://foldoc.org/nibble
• 1993, Richard E. Haskell, Introduction to computer engineering (page 287)That is, the lower nibble (the 4 bits 1010 = A) has been masked to zero.