• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Language / Where does the expression “nip and tuck” come from and What does it mean?

Where does the expression “nip and tuck” come from and What does it mean?

February 20, 2020 by Karen Hill

Of course every American knows that the expression “nip and tuck” means neck and neck, or just about as close a finish in any sort of competition as two or more contestants could get, a photo finish, in modern terminology.

But why “nip,” and why “tuck”?

There have been variations of the expression in the hundred and twenty-odd years of recorded usage.

James K. Paulding in Westward Ho! (1832), gives it, “There we were at rip and tuck, up one tree and down another.”

William T. Porter, a dozen years or so later, wrote it both “nip and tack” and “nip and chuck.” But “nip and tuck” has been common usage through the years since.

The dictionaries, playing safe, refuse even to guess at the source, but we’ll stick my neck out to suggest that perhaps Paulding was right.

A rip, of course, is the result of what mother does to a piece of cloth in reducing it to smaller portions; the tuck the fold she makes in one such portion to sew it to another, as in making a patchwork quilt.

By successive rips and tucks the patchwork comes out even.

Pretty thin? Well, even some dictionary derivations with all steps known look superficially thinner.

Related Facts

  • What Does the Phrase "Nip and Tuck" Mean and Where Did the Idiom Come From?
  • Where does the expression "till the cows come home" come from and What does it mean?
  • Where does the expression "to come out flat footed" come from and What does it mean?
  • Where does the expression "to come out at the little end of the horn" come from and What does it mean?
  • Where does the expression "come off your perch" come from and What does it mean?
  • What does the expression "to get one's come uppance" mean and Where does it come from?

Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What does the phrase “Lucullian feast” (or banquet) mean and Where does it originate?
Next Post: What does the phrase “to cut (or split) a melon” mean and Where does it come from? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2021 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy