Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also Nipper, Nippo) a Japanese person.

1941		A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 22 Apr. [synd. cartoon strip] [title] Full of Zip Instead of Nip.
1942		Time 9 Feb. 23/3: I visited a command post in one sector where they had just rounded up a bunch of Nips.
1943		Bayler & Carnes Last Man Off Wake Island 340: On land, too, the Nippers were again shifting their weight around this area.
1945		‘More about Darwin’ in Mess Songs & Rhymes of the RAAF 4: They say the Nips have got down on our rubber by the tin.
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 297: I want to fight until the Nips can’t threaten this country.
1959		W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: You’ve heard a Nippo griping on the set.
1966		(con. 1948–52) L. Thomas Virgin Soldiers 60: They were supposed to be smart, the Nips.
1974–5		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 115: The dirty yellow nips nearly shot Australia to buggery.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 18: The Yanks were baring their backsides to the slit-eyed yeller nips.
1993		G. Disher Deathdeal [ebook] The man referred to the ‘Nips’ in the party and Wyatt guessed he’d been a serviceman during the war.
1996		A. Close Official and Doubtful 301: Nobody says anything in case it looks like they don’t like the Nips.
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 21: That’s if you don’t count a few hundred Nips going over the wall at Corowa during World War Two.

2. the Japanese language.

1999

N. Stephenson Cryptonomicon 613: I’ve killed more Nips than seismic activity. [...] I speak a little Nip.

3. any East Asian person.

1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 248: Nip [...] 2. Any person perceived to be Japanese.
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 245: usage: ‘All those nips think they can become Australians simply by jumping on a boat and sailing here’.