in the nick of time
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia.
Related to in the nick of time: for the time being, Take Time
in the nick of time
At the last possible moment before a deadline or before something begins or ends; just in time. That car moved off the track in the nick of time—another moment and the train would have smashed into it. You got here in the nick of time—we're just about to start the show.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
*in the (very) nick of time
Fig. just in time; at the last possible instant; just before it's too late. (*Typically: arrive ~; get there ~; happen ~; reach something ~; Save someone ~.) The doctor arrived in the nick of time. The patient's life was saved. I reached the airport in the very nick of time and made my flight.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
in the nick of time
Also, just in time. At the last moment, as in The police arrived in the nick of time, or He got there just in time for dinner. The first term began life as in the nick and dates from the 1500s, when nick meant "the critical moment" (a meaning now obsolete). The second employs just in the sense of "precisely" or "closely," a usage applied to time since the 1500s. Also see in time, def. 1.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
in the nick of time
COMMON If something happens in the nick of time, it happens at the last possible moment, when it is almost too late. She woke up just in the nick of time and raised the alarm. They got to the hospital in the nick of time, just as the baby was about to be born.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
in the nick of time
only just in time; just at the critical moment.Nick is used here in the sense of ‘the precise moment of an occurrence or an event’. This form of the phrase dates from the mid 17th century, but in the (very ) nick is recorded from the late 16th century.
1985 Nini Herman My Kleinian Home Time and again, when all seemed lost, I somehow won through in the nick of time.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
in the ˌnick of ˈtime
(informal) at the last possible moment; just in time: He got to the railway station in the nick of time. ♢ He remembered in the nick of time that his passport was in his coat pocket.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
in the nick of time
Just at the critical moment; just in time.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
nick of time, (just) in the
At the last minute, just in time. This term comes from a now obsolete meaning of nick, that is, “the critical moment.” A 1577 chronicle states, “The Romane navie . . . arrived at the very pinch, or as commonly we say, in the nicke.” Nearly a century later of time was added to clarify the issue, although just in the nick continued to be used for many years. It probably was a cliché by the time Sir Walter Scott wrote (The Pirate, 1821), “The fortunate arrival of Gordaunt, in the very nick of time.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer