English Explanatory Dictionary

wink

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To close one's eyes in sleep.
  2. To close one's eyes.
  3. Usually followed by at: to look the other way, to turn a blind eye.
  4. To close one's eyes quickly and involuntarily; to blink.
  5. To blink with only one eye as a message, signal, or suggestion, usually with an implication of conspiracy. (When transitive, the object may be the eye being winked, or the message being conveyed.)
  6. To gleam fitfully or intermittently; to twinkle; to flicker.
noun
  1. An act of winking (a blinking of only one eye), or a message sent by winking.
  2. A brief period of sleep; especially forty winks.
  3. A brief time; an instant.
  4. The smallest possible amount.
  5. A subtle allusion.
noun
  1. Synonym of tiddlywink (“small disc used in the game of tiddlywinks”).
noun
  1. Synonym of periwinkle (“type of mollusk”).

Pronunciation

/ˈwɪŋk/ en-us-wink.ogg

Word forms

wink winks winking winked

Etymology

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”).

Synonyms

nictitate connive shut one's eyes 😉 ;) ;-) tiddlywink periwinkle

Derived words

wink at wink out a nod is as good as a wink a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse a nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat butt wink forty winks God-wink God wink in the wink of an eye kiddle-a-wink nudge nudge wink wink quick as a wink sleep a wink tip the wink wink-a-peep wink murder wink-wink wink wink nudge nudge
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