Nitty

/ˈnɪtiː/ · adjective

Meaning

(archaic, also figuratively) Full of nits..

Definitions by Sense

1. (archaic, also figuratively) Full of nits.
2. (chiefly British, slang) Foolish, inane.
3. (African-American Vernacular, MLE, slang) A dope fiend, a druggie.
4. (Excessively) detailed or specific; fastidious, fussy, nit-picky.
5. (poker slang) Of a poker player: playing in an overly cautious and reactive manner.
6. (obsolete, rare) Shining; elegant, spruce.

Example Sentences

About mid-night do I walke, and for the trickes I play they call me Pach. When I find a slut asleepe, I smuch her face if it be cleane; but if it be durty, I wash it in the next pisse-pot that I can finde: the balls I use to wash such sluts withal is a sows pancake or a pilgrimes salve. Those that I find with their heads nitty and scabby, for want of combing, I am their barbers, and cut their hayre as close as an apes tayle; or else clap so much pitch on it, that they must cut it off themselves to their great shame.

Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […]

Rich people haue the world at will, / Trades fade, but Lawiers flourish still, / Iacke would be married unto Gyll; / but care will kill a Cat. / Are you there, Sirrah, with your beares? / A Barbers shop with the nittie haires, / Doll, Phillis hath lost both her eares / for coozning.

Sure thy father was ſome botcher, and thy hungry tongue bit off theſe ſhreds of complaints, to patch up the elbows of thy nitty eloquence.

Next night, therefore, these nittie haxters intend with strong hand to breake his glass-window's, or at dead-time of night to pull downe his signe: and so ends their faire quarrel.

It is a very difficult thing to make a good yarn of nitty [cotton] stock. The nits will stick to the cotton to quite an extent anyway, in spite of all the efforts made to prevent it. A few years ago we had some very nitty stock and we got the best results by running the beaters so as to give about 40 blows per inch of stock delivered on our plain two bladed beaters.

Super-lice are bad news for most of us, but not for nit clinics, which are fast expanding. […] Then it is time for phase two, which involves a heat treatment, blasting hot air at my skull to dehydrate the eggs and eradicate the remaining offenders. This machine, rather like a high-tech salon hairdryer, is at times slightly scalding but not more painful than using a pair of hair straighteners. Finally, any nitty survivors are meticulously combed out, strand by strand.

Stephen Colbert went overtime to get into the “nitty crazy” of President Donald Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, noting that, he was shaken to his core, but “at 54, there’s not a lot of core left.”

Synonyms for nitty

Antonyms for nitty

Related Words

Word Forms

• nittier
• more nitty
• nittiest
• most nitty
• nittie
• nitties

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions