nip
v.to give someone or something a quick, sharp bite or pinch. It is often used to describe a cold feeling in the air or a small bite from a pet.
v.to pinch, squeeze, or bite sharply. Often describes the physical sensation of cold or the behavior of a small animal; transitive when referring to the act of biting.
“The puppy likes to nip at my heels when we play.”
“There is a sharp nip in the air this morning, so you should wear a scarf.”
“The frost began to nip the edges of the delicate leaves, signaling the sudden arrival of an early winter that the farmers were not yet prepared for.”
When used to describe biting, it is often followed by the preposition 'at'.
Clipping of Nipponese, derived from Nippon, from Japanese 日本 (Nippon).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.