Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🧒 A child 🦀 A claw
nipper

nipper

1 8.9
A claw on animals like crabs and lobsters that holds or crushes food
  • noun
  • /ˈnɪpər/
translation icon : pinza

Examples

  • Honey, could you slide over a tad and raise the nipper up?

    Raising Arizona (1987)

  • Now just reach in with your nippers and clip that wire.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I have three different sets of Nypex nippers and these were my first set.

  • I-if you get your nippers, you could...

    Tennessee Johnson (1942)

  • Cahill, holding the panel with one hand, fumbles for the nippers in the toolkit.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The crab used its nipper to grasp the piece of food stuck in the sand.

  • He carefully removed the wire insulation with his nippers to prepare for the connection.

  • The lobster's nippers are powerful enough to crack open shells of prey.

Synonyms

claw
vsnipper
24 2.9

A pincer on the front leg of a crab or lobster for holding and cutting

is used broadly for seizing or holding not only catching
pincer
vsnipper
4 6.7

A claw on animals like crabs and lobsters used to hold things or fight

is the more common general name rather than the specific technical term
grasper
vsnipper
  • Specialized
1 7.9

A claw or pincer on an animal that holds things

is the more specific common name for the limb's grasping structure
chela
vsnipper
  • Specialized
9.9

A claw at the end of a limb on animals like crabs or lobsters that holds food

is the general term not limited to specific crustaceans

Surface Forms

nipper singular
nippers plural

Morphology

nipper = nip (transparent) = nip + er

The noun is a regular -er formation referring to something that nips or pinches, so the meaning is directly recoverable from the verb.

Etymology

The word nipper for a claw comes from the simple verb nip, which means 'to pinch' or 'to bite', plus the agent -er. So a nipper is something that 'nips', like a crab or lobster claw that pinches and holds food.