| English > English |
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| nip in the bud |
| 1. v. To remove a bud from a plant to prevent flower and fruit from forming. |
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| 2. v. To stop something at an early stage. |
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| If you see a bad habit begin to develop, try to nip it in the bud so that it does not become ingrained. Issues are easier to sort out the earlier they are addressed. |
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| Analysis |
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| Nip |
| 1. n. (slang) A Japanese person. |
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| 2. adj. (slang) Japanese. |
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| 3. n. A small quantity of something edible or a potable liquor. |
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| I’ll just take a nip of that cake. |
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| He had a nip of whiskey. |
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| in |
| 1. prep. Used to indicate location, inclusion, or position within spatial, temporal or other limits. |
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| 2. prep. Contained by. |
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| The dog is in the kennel. |
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| 3. prep. Within. |
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| 4. prep. Surrounded by. |
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| the |
| 1. art. Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it articulates is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already |
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| I’m reading the book. (Compare I’m reading a book.) |
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| The street in front of your house. (Compare A street in Paris.) |
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| The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird. |
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| 2. art. Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause. |
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| Bud |
| 1. n. (informal) A Budweiser beer. |
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| I'd like a Bud, please. |
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| 2. n. A newly sprouted leaf or blossom that has not yet unfolded. |
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| After a long, cold winter, the trees finally began to produce buds. |
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| 3. n. (figuratively) Something that has begun to develop. |
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