nipple

Definition

The projection of a mammary gland from which, on female therian mammals, milk is secreted.

Etymology

From earlier neple, nypil, neble, believed to be a diminutive of nib, neb (“tip, point”), equivalent to nib + -le. Compare Old English nypel (“elephant trunk”), formed analogously as "a protuberance from one's neb" .

Example Sentences

• "Mary felt annoyed at the girl; just because bras had become passé, did a girl with so pronounced a bosom have to cater to fashion? In this case practicality dictated a bra, and Mary stood at the desk feeling herself flushing with disapproval. And artificial nipple-dilation; it was just too much."
• "Joan Trieste wore skin-tight dark pants and slippers and a cotton man’s-style shirt; as far as he could tell, she had on no bra, as fashion dictated, but her nipples were merely flat dark circles beneath the white cotton fabric of her shirt: she could not afford or did not care to have the currently-popular dilation operation."
• "I could tell he didn't agree but he went to the corner and took up his squirrel gun, feeling the nipple for a percussion cap."