[In sense 1, understood to be a. Du. knikker, local Ger. knicker, marble (used in school-boy play), app. agent-n. from knikken, knicken to crack, snap, KNICK; adopted in U.S. But NICKER (q.v.) in this or a similar sense is much earlier in Eng. The connection of the other senses, and their spelling with kn- or n- is also uncertain.]
1. A boys’ ‘marble’ of baked clay; esp. one placed between the forefinger and thumb, and propelled by a jerk of the latter, so as to strike at another marble.
1860. Bartlett, Dict. Americanisms, Knicker or Nicker.… A boy’s clay marble; a common term in New York.
2. (Also nicker). A large flat button or disk of metal, used as a pitcher, in the boys’ game ‘on the line,’ played with buttons.
1899. N. & Q., 9th Ser. III. 185/2. The buttons of the coachman type, with the shank battered down, made a good ‘nicker,’ or ‘knicker.’
3. A game played in Suffolk with stones (of the same nature as duck or duck-stone). Also the stone thrown by each player.
1900. F. Hall, in Eng. Dial. Dict.
