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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.

Definition 2024

Wink

Wink

See also: wink

German

Noun

Wink m ‎(genitive Winks or Winkes, plural Winke)

  1. sign
  2. hint, cue, suggestion

Related terms

wink

wink

See also: Wink

English

Verb

wink ‎(third-person singular simple present winks, present participle winking, simple past and past participle winked)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To close one's eyes.
    • Shakespeare
      I will wink, so shall the day seem night.
    • Tillotson
      They are not blind, but they wink.
  2. (archaic, intransitive) To turn a blind eye.
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.51:
      Some trot about to bear false witness, and say anything for money; and though judges know of it, yet for a bribe they wink at it, and suffer false contracts to prevail against equity.
    • Herbert
      And yet, as though he knew it not, / His knowledge winks, and lets his humours reign.
    • John Locke
      Obstinacy can not be winked at, but must be subdued.
  3. (transitive, intransitive) To blink with only one eye as a message, signal, or suggestion. (When transitive, the object may be the eye being winked, or the message being conveyed.)
    He winked at me.
    She winked her eye.
    He winked his assent.
  4. (intransitive) To twinkle.
  5. (intransitive) To be dim and flicker.
    The light winks.

Translations

Noun

act of winking

wink ‎(plural winks)

  1. An act of winking (a blinking of only one eye), or a message sent by winking.
  2. A brief time; an instant.
  3. A brief period of sleep; especially forty winks.
  4. A disc used in the game of tiddlywinks.

Derived terms

Translations

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vɪŋk/

Verb

wink

  1. Imperative singular of winken.
  2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of winken.

Etymology

From winken ‎(“to wave”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vɪŋk/

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