From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishin the nick of timein the nick of timeON TIMEjust before it is too late, or just before something bad happens Luckily, help arrived in the nick of time. → nick
Examples from the Corpus
in the nick of time• But better in the nick of time than not at all.• Patience, she counselled herself, and turned the chicken in the nick of time.• With repairs completed in the nick of time she sailed for the operation with a depleted crew.• Radio contact was established in the nick of time and we managed to transmit a message to the ship.• He did, however, in the nick of time, and I was issued uneventfully into the governance of Calvin Coolidge.• It finally happened -- and just in the nick of time.• Enter Taligent with its promised solution for rapid applications prototyping and customization in a hardware-independent environment just in the nick of time.• She escaped from her smoke-filled home just in the nick of time.• Those doughty editorial professionals at the Star have once again helped us avert a foolish mistake just in the nick of time!• The money came through just in the nick of time.• But all was well in the nick of time. 