Dec 23, 2023 17:34
5 mos ago
37 viewers *
English term
nip out the back
Non-PRO
English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Colloquial
Vera nips out the back for another cigarette. The court is a non-smoking building, and like most such buildings it has a stub-strewn area outside where smokers have unofficial licence to congregate.
I've googled for this expression and found a few other examples, but it isn't in the dictionary.
Thank you in advance.
I've googled for this expression and found a few other examples, but it isn't in the dictionary.
Thank you in advance.
Responses
| 3 +4 | go outside (for a short cigarette break) |
Oliver Simões
|
Change log
Dec 24, 2023 11:39: writeaway changed "Field (write-in)" from "Idiomatic" to "Colloquial"
Responses
+4
19 mins
Oliver Simões
United States
United States
Specializes in field
United States
BA in Transl., MA in ESL, 15 yrs of exp.
Native in: Portuguese 
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, Spanish to Portuguese, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
24
Selected
go outside (for a short cigarette break)
"If you nip somewhere, usually somewhere nearby, you go there quickly or for a short time. [British, informal]. Should I nip out and get some groceries?" https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/nip
Presumably, the back of the building/place/etc. where they are in.
Presumably, the back of the building/place/etc. where they are in.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Nicholas Laurier Eveneshen
1 min
|
| agree |
Helena Chavarria
19 mins
|
| agree |
Cilian O'Tuama
: nip out, pop out... - hardly a Q for pros.
11 hrs
|
| agree |
AllegroTrans
17 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks a lot Oliver. Yes, I saw this meaning in Collins but thought that 'the back' might be part of the idiom. Now it's clear it isn't. "
Discussion