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Webster 1913 Edition

Wink

Wink

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Winked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Winking
.]
[OE.
winken
, AS.
wincian
; akin to D.
wenken
, G.
winken
to wink, nod, beckon, OHG.
winchan
, Sw.
vinka
, Dan.
vinke
, AS.
wancol
wavering, OHG.
wanchal
wavering,
wanch[GREEK]n
to waver, G.
wanken
, and perhaps to E.
weak
; cf. AS.
wincel
a corner. Cf.
Wench
,
Wince
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
To nod; to sleep; to nap.
[Obs.]
“Although I wake or wink.”
Chaucer.
2.
To shut the eyes quickly; to close the eyelids with a quick motion.
He must
wink
, so loud he would cry.
Chaucer.
And I will
wink
, so shall the day seem night.
Shakespeare
They are not blind, but they
wink
.
Tillotson.
3.
To close and open the eyelids quickly; to nictitate; to blink.
A baby of some three months old, who
winked
, and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day.
Hawthorne.
4.
To give a hint by a motion of the eyelids, often those of one eye only.
Wink
at the footman to leave him without a plate.
Swift.
5.
To avoid taking notice, as if by shutting the eyes; to connive at anything; to be tolerant; – generally with at.
The times of this ignorance God
winked at
.
Acts xvii. 30.
And yet, as though he knew it not,
His knowledge
winks
, and lets his humors reign.
Herbert.
Obstinacy can not be
winked
at, but must be subdued.
Locke.
6.
To be dim and flicker;
as, the light
winks
.
Winking monkey
(Zool.)
,
the white-nosed monkey (
Cersopithecus nictitans
).

Wink

,
Verb.
T.
To cause (the eyes) to wink.
[Colloq.]

Wink

,
Noun.
1.
The act of closing, or closing and opening, the eyelids quickly; hence, the time necessary for such an act; a moment.
I have not slept one
wink
.
Shakespeare
I could eclipse and cloud them with a
wink
.
Donne.
2.
A hint given by shutting the eye with a significant cast.
Sir. P. Sidney.
The stockjobber thus from Change Alley goes down,
And tips you, the freeman, a
wink
.
Swift.

Webster 1828 Edition

Wink

WINK

,
Verb.
I.
[G. Wink and wince are radically one word.]
1.
To shut the eyes; to close the eyelids.
They are not blind, but they wink.
2.
To close and open the eyelids.
3.
To give a hint by a motion of the eyelids.
Wink at the footman to leave him without a plate.
4.
To close the eyelids and exclude the light.
Or wink as cowards and afraid.
5.
To be dim; as a winking light.
To wink at, to connive at; to seem not to see; to tolerate; to overlook, as something not perfectly agreeable; as, to wink at faults.

WINK

,
Noun.
1.
The act of closing the eyelids. I lay awake, and could not sleep a wink.
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink.
2.
A hint given by shutting the eye with a significant cast.

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