Nibbed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Having been equipped with a metal writing point, as a pen is when its tip is fitted or shaped
2. Furnished with a pointed writing tip, the way a pen is once its nib has been attached
3. Provided with a sharpened point for writing or drawing, such as a pen fitted with its tip

Etymology: "Nibbed" is simply the past tense and past participle of "nib," a verb meaning to furnish something with a nib, the pointed tip of a pen, or, in this sense, to tip something with metal. The verb was formed from the noun "nib," and the ending "-ed" marks the past form, so a "nibbed" pen is one that has been fitted with a nib, while a "nibbed" arrow or stick has been capped with a point. The noun "nib" itself is a older English word meaning a beak or point, and it is related to the word "neb," which carries the same sense of a bird's bill. Over time the sense narrowed in English to the writing implement, which is why the word now calls to mind the steel point of a fountain pen more than a bird's beak.

Synonyms: nipped, bitten, gnawed, pecked, chewed