Dictionary

nibs en · NOUN · etymology 1

See nib.

(UK, after possessive pronoun, slang) An important or self-important person.
- You may also know that, during intermission, Paul and Linda were summoned to a room behind the royal box for a private chat with her nibs. 1983 June 5, “OFFSTAGE”, in Chicago Tribune:
- Betsey Reed, Her Nibs, was just as witty and quaint as usual, sitting in state in her wheel chair and dominating everything and everybody. 1920, Oreola Williams Haskell with Ida Husted Harper, Banner bearers: tales of the suffrage campaigns, page 345:
- "Your Nibs," I panted, "I am sent by the machine gunner man to tell you that ... "Please don't call me Your Nibs, and knock before you come in next time, 2004, Michael Arnold, A game with dice, page 59:
- Vera, you are a gleam of brilliant modernity in our dim old cave of antiques — and their nibs, our ancestors." Peter waved disrespectfully to the portrait 1919, Robert Nichols, “The Secret”, in The Century, page 734:
(UK, after possessive pronoun, dated, obsolete, slang) Self.
(qualifier:cribbage) A jack turned up by the dealer.
- Two for his nibs.