Edit page | Page history | Printable version

wink

1. To nod; to sleep; to nap. Although I wake or wink.

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. (Shak) 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.

(Science: zoology) Winking monkey, the white-nosed monkey (Cersopithecus nictitans).

Origin: 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, wanchn to waver, G. Wanken, and perhaps to E. Weak; cf. AS. Wincel a corner. Cf. Wench, Wince.