nibble

To take a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, of (something).

The rabbit nibbled the lettuce.

His little Goats gan driue out of their ſtalls, / To feede abroad, vvhere paſture beſt befalls. / […] / Some clambring through the hollovv cliffes on hy, / Nibble the buſhie ſhrubs, vvhich grovve thereby.

To lightly bite (a person or animal, or part of their body), especially in a loving or playful manner; to nip.

My hand, as it hangs down, thou nibblest tenderly, […]

Social animals perform many little services for each other: horses nibble, and cows lick each other, on any spot which itches: […]

To make (a hole in something) through small bites.

To make (one's way) through or while taking small bites.

Before he realized it, he had nibbled his way through a whole bag of potato chips.

The cows nibbled their way across the field.

Chiefly followed by into or to: to cause (something) to be in a certain state through small bites.

The bases of the smaller trees were nibbled bare by rabbits, […]

The grass had been nibbled short and even, so this stretch was not shaggy and red like the surrounding country, but gray and velvety.

An act of taking a small, quick bite, or several of such bites, especially with the front teeth; the bite or bites so taken.

[H]e would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar's lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble.

A light bite of a person or animal, or part of their body, especially one which is loving or playful; a nip.

An amount of food that is or can be taken into the mouth through a small bite; a small mouthful.

Yo'r sheep will be a' folded, a reckon, Measter Pratt, for there'll ne'er be a nibble o' grass to be seen this two month, according to my reading; […]

A slight show of interest in something, such as a commercial opportunity or a proposal.

Grass or other vegetation eaten by livestock; forage, pasturage.

On the northern slopes of the light-earthed hills the moss had come over the herbage, and the sweet nibble of the sheep was souring.

A unit of memory equal to half a byte, or chiefly four bits.

I own several abaci and two books on how to use them, but they all have four counters below the bar and one counter above it. […] The bottom four counters of each abacus can be used to represent a "nybble," and the upper counter on each can be used for parity.

At every negative-going transition it reads a 4-bit ADPCM nybble (there are 2 nybbles per byte) and stores it in a memory-resident table.