Nit

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Nit, n. [AS. hnitu; akin to D. neet, G. niss, OHG. niz; cf. Gr. koni`s, koni`dos, Icel. gnit, Sw. gnet, Dan. gnid, Russ. & Pol. gnida, Bohem. hnida, W. nedd.].

 The egg of a louse or other small insect.  [1913 Webster]

Nit grass (Bot.), a pretty annual European grass (Gastridium lendigerum), with small spikelets somewhat resembling a nit. It is also found in California and Chile.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Nit, n.
1 the egg or young form of a louse or other parasitic insect esp. of human head-lice or body-lice.
2 Brit. sl. a stupid person.

Idiom

nit-pick colloq. indulge in nit-picking. nit-picker colloq. a person who nit-picks. nit-picking n. & adj. colloq. fault-finding in a petty manner.

Nit, int. Austral. sl. used as a warning that someone is approaching.

Idiom

keep nit keep watch; act as guard.

Etymology

19th c.: orig. unkn.: cf. NIX(3)

THESAURUS

Nit

adverse criticism, animadversion, aspersion, bad notices, bad press, captiousness, carping, cat flea, cavil, caviling, censoriousness, chigoe, cockroach, crab, criticism, dog flea, exception, faultfinding, flak, flea, grayback, hairsplitting, hit, home thrust, hostile criticism, hypercriticalness, hypercriticism, imputation, jigger, knock, louse, mite, nagging, nay, niggle, niggling, nit-picking, nix, no, nope, obloquy, overcriticalness, parasite, pestering, pettifogging, priggishness, quibble, quibbling, rap, red bug, reflection, reproachfulness, roach, sand flea, slam, stricture, swipe, taking exception, trichoschistism, vermin, weevil