nibble
意味
- (…を)少しずつかじる,少しずつ食べる,つつく《+away at(on+名)》
- (相手の申し出などに)思わせぶりな催度を示す,乗るようなふりをする《+at+名》
- …を少しずつ食べる,つつく;…をかじり取る《+away(off)+名,+名+away(off)》
- かじり取って…を作る
- (…を)つつくこと,かじること《+at(on)+名》
- (食物の)一口の量,少量
例文
He managed to cure himself of his habit of nibbling his nails.
彼は爪を噛む癖をやっと直した。
You say you had a nibble, it looked to me like you'd polished it off.
つまみ食いと言うか、完食していたように見えたが。
語源
英語の原文（Wiktionary）
The verb is derived from Late Middle English nebillen, nebyll (“to peck away at (something), nibble; (figurative) to attempt to sing (a part of a song)”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Middle Low German nibbelen (“to eat in small bites, peck”) (modern German Low German nibbeln, gnibbeln, knibbeln), possibly a variant of knabbelen, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnet- (“to press”) or imitative. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates * Middle Dutch cnibbelen (modern Dutch knibbelen (“to gnaw; to murmur”), nibbelen (“to nibble”)) * Saterland Frisian nibje (“to nibble”) * West Frisian knibbelje