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3. in the nick of time

in the nick of time

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*in the (very) nick of time

Fig. just in time; at the last possible instant; just before it's too late. (*Typically: arrive ~; get there ~; happen ~; reach something ~; Save someone ~.) The doctor arrived in the nick of time. The patient's life was saved. I reached the airport in the very nick of time and made my flight.

See also: nick, of, time

(just) in the nick of time

at the last possible moment A man walking his dog saw her fall into the river and pulled her out just in the nick of time.

See also: nick, of, time

in the nick of time

at the last possible moment

Usage notes: A nick was a mark on a stick which was used in the past to measure time.

We got there just in the nick of time. A minute later and she'd have left.

See also: nick, of, time

in the nick of time

Also, just in time. At the last moment, as in The police arrived in the nick of time, or He got there just in time for dinner. The first term began life as in the nick and dates from the 1500s, when nick meant "the critical moment" (a meaning now obsolete). The second employs just in the sense of "precisely" or "closely," a usage applied to time since the 1500s. Also see in time, def. 1.

See also: nick, of, time

in the nick of time

Just at the critical moment; just in time.

See also: nick, of, time