clink

Meanings

1. The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass.
2. Stress cracks produced in metal ingots as they cool after being cast.

1. To make a clinking sound; to make a sound of metal on metal or glass on glass; to strike materials such as metal or glass against one another.
2. To rhyme.

1. A prison.

1. To clinch; to rivet.

1. A surname.

Etymology

From Middle English clinken, from Old English *clincan (compare clynnan, clynian (“to sound; resound”)), from Proto-Germanic *klinganą (“to sound”). Cognates include Middle Dutch klinken and German klingen. Related to cling (sound) and clang. May be further related to call. Perhaps of onomatopoeic origin, as metal against metal.