nibble
[verb]
Synonyms:
- bite, eat, gnaw, munch, nip, peck, pick at
[noun]
Synonyms:
- snack, bite, crumb, morsel, peck, soupçon, taste, titbit

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English Thesaurus: bite, chew, gnaw, nip somebody/give somebody a nip, nibble, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. nib‧ble¹ /ˈnɪbəl/ verb
[Date: 1500-1600; Origin: Perhaps from Low German nibbeln 'to chew bits off']

1. [intransitive and transitive] to eat small amounts of food by taking very small bites:
He nibbled the biscuit cautiously.
nibble at
There’s a fish nibbling at my bait.
nibble on
He nibbled on a piece of raw carrot.

2. [transitive] to gently bite someone in a loving way:
He began to nibble her ear affectionately.
nibble away at something phrasal verb
to take away small amounts of something so that the total amount is gradually reduced:
All these expenses are nibbling away at our savings.
The Scottish National Party is beginning to nibble away at Labour’s majority.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. nibble² noun

1. [countable] a small bite of something
nibble of
She took a nibble of her cookie.

2. nibbles [plural] informal small things to eat, like crisps and peanuts, especially at a party

3. [singular] a small amount of interest in something:
We’ve had the house on the market for a month and not even had a nibble yet.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

bite to use your teeth to cut, crush, or chew something:
The dog bit me!
I sometimes bite my fingernails when I’m nervous.
He bit into the apple.
chew to keep biting something that is in your mouth:
Helen was chewing a piece of gum.
He was chewing on a cigar.
gnaw if an animal gnaws something, it bites it repeatedly:
The dog was in the yard gnawing on a bone.
nip somebody/give somebody a nip to give someone or something a small sharp bite:
When I took the hamster out of his cage, he nipped me.
nibble to take a lot of small bites from something:
A fish nibbled at the bait.
She sat at her desk, nibbling her sandwich.
sink your teeth into somebody/something to bite someone or something with a lot of force, so that your teeth go right into them:
The dog sank its teeth into my leg.
He sank his teeth into the steak.
chomp on something informal to bite something and chew it in a noisy way:
The donkey was chomping on a carrot.
He was chomping away on big slice of toast.
sting if an insect stings you, it makes a very small hole in your skin. You use sting about bees, wasps, and scorpions, and bite about mosquitoes, ants, spiders, and snakes:
She stepped on a wasps’ nest and must have been stung at least 20 times.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

eat to put food in your mouth and chew and swallow it:
Experts recommend eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.
have to eat a particular food:
‘What do you usually have for breakfast?’ ‘I usually just have coffee and toast.’
We had the set meal.
feed on something to eat a particular kind of food – used when talking about animals:
Foxes feed on a wide range of foods including mice, birds, insects, and fruit.
consume written to eat or drink something – used especially in scientific or technical contexts:
Babies consume large amounts relative to their body weight.
munch (on) something to eat something with big continuous movements of your mouth, especially when you are enjoying your food:
He was munching on an apple.
They were sitting on a bench munching their sandwiches.
nibble (on) something to eat something by biting off very small pieces:
If you want a healthy snack, why not just nibble on a carrot?
pick at something to eat only a small amount of your food because you are not hungry or do not like the food:
Lisa was so upset that she could only pick at her food.
stuff/gorge yourself to eat so much food that you cannot eat anything else:
He’s always stuffing himself with cakes.
We gorged ourselves on my mother’s delicious apple tart.
slurp to eat soup, noodles etc with a noisy sucking sound:
In England it’s considered rude to slurp your soup, but in some countries it’s seen as a sign of enjoyment.
gobble something up/down informal to eat something very quickly, especially because you like it very much or you are greedy:
You’ve gobbled up all the ice-cream!
The children gobbled it down in no time.
wolf something down informal to eat food quickly, especially because you are very hungry or in a hurry:
The boy wolfed down everything on his plate and asked for more.
bolt something down British English to eat food very quickly, especially because you are in a hurry:
He bolted down his breakfast and was out of the door within 5 minutes.
You shouldn’t bolt your food down like that.
devour /dɪˈvaʊə $ -ˈvaʊr/ especially written to eat all of something quickly because you are very hungry:
In a very short time, the snake had devoured the whole animal.
be on a diet to be eating less or different food than normal in order to become thinner:
No cake thanks – I’m on a diet.
fast to not eat for a period of time, often for religious reasons:
Muslim people fast during the month of Ramadan.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲