nicking

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.To make a nick or nicks in; to notch; to keep count of or upon by nicks; as, to nick a stick, tally, etc. [1913 Webster]

2.To mar; to deface; to make ragged, as by cutting nicks or notches in; to create a nick[2] in, deliberately or accidentally; as, to nick the rim of a teacup. [1913 Webster +PJC]

And thence proceed to nicking sashes.— Prior.[1913 Webster]

The itch of his affection should not then Have nicked his captainship.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

3.To suit or fit into, as by a correspondence of nicks; to tally with. [1913 Webster]

Words nicking and resembling one another are applicable to different significations.— Camden.[1913 Webster]

4.To hit at, or in, the nick; to touch rightly; to strike at the precise point or time. [1913 Webster]

The just season of doing things must be nicked, and all accidents improved.— L'Estrange.[1913 Webster]

5.To make a cross cut or cuts on the under side of (the tail of a horse, in order to make him carry it higher). [1913 Webster]