Link Centre Dictionary

wink

UK/ˈwɪŋk/ US/ˈwɪŋk/ fairly common slang uk
verb (4) noun (3)

verb

1.

signal by winking

  • “She winked at him”
2.

gleam or glow intermittently

  • “The lights were flashing”
Synonyms
3.

briefly shut the eyes

  • “The TV announcer never seems to blink”
Synonyms
4.

force to go away by blinking

  • “blink away tears”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a very short time (as the time it takes the eye blink or the heart to beat)

  • “if I had the chance I”
Synonyms
2.
3.

Origin

From Middle English wynken, from Old English wincian (“to wink, make a sign, close the eyes, blink”, weak verb), from Proto-West Germanic *winkōn (“to close one's eyes”), from Proto-Indo-European *weng- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”). Cognate with Middle Low German winken (“to blink, wink”), German winken (“to nod, beckon, make a sign”). Related also to Saterland Frisian wäänke, Dutch wenken (“to beckon, motion”), Latin vacillare (“sway”), Lithuanian véngti (“to swerve, avoid”), Albanian vang (“tire, felloe”), Sanskrit वङ्गति (vaṅgati, “(he, she) limps”), French guigner (“to eye, sneak a look at”).

Phrases

  • a nod is as good as a wink
  • a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse
  • butt wink
  • forty winks
  • God wink
  • in the wink of an eye
  • nudge nudge wink wink
  • quick as a wink
  • wink at
  • wink out

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.