Link Centre Dictionary

nimble

UK/ˈnɪmbəl/ US/ˈnɪmbəl] ~ [ˈnɪmbl̩/ uncommon

adjective

1.

moving quickly and lightly

  • “sleek and agile as a gymnast”
  • “as nimble as a deer”
  • “nimble fingers”
  • “quick of foot”
  • “the old dog was so spry it was halfway up the stairs before we could stop it”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

mentally quick

  • “an agile mind”
  • “nimble wits”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

With intrusive -b-, inherited from Middle English nymyl, nemel, nemyll, nymell (“agile, quick, ready, able, capable”), a merger of Old English nǣmel (“receptive, quick to grasp”) and Old English numol (“able to take, capable of holding”), both from niman (“to take”) + -el, -ol (associative suffix), corresponding to nim + -le. Compare German nehmen, Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (niman), Old Norse nema (“to take”). More at nim.

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.