WINK

blink, eye blink, blinking, wink, winking, nictitation, nictation

(noun) a reflex that closes and opens the eyes rapidly

wink

(noun) closing one eye quickly as a signal

blink, wink, nictitate, nictate

(verb) briefly shut the eyes; “The TV announcer never seems to blink”

wink

(verb) signal by winking; “She winked at him”

wink, blink, blink away

(verb) keep back by blinking; “blink away tears”

flash, blink, wink, twinkle, winkle

(verb) gleam or glow intermittently; “The lights were flashing”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Verb

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

(obsolete, intransitive) To close one's eyes in sleep.

(intransitive) To close one's eyes.

(intransitive) Usually followed by at: to look the other way, to turn a blind eye.

Synonyms: connive (obsolete), shut one's eyes

(intransitive) To close one's eyes quickly and involuntarily; to blink.

(transitive, intransitive) 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.)

(intransitive) To gleam fitfully or intermitently; to twinkle; to flicker.

Synonyms

• nictitate

Noun

wink (plural winks)

An act of winking (a blinking of only one eye), or a message sent by winking.

A brief period of sleep; especially forty winks.

A brief time; an instant.

The smallest possible amount.

A subtle allusion.

Etymology 2

Noun

wink (plural winks)

A disc used in the game of tiddlywinks.

Etymology 3

Noun

wink (plural winks)

(Chiefly British) Periwinkle.

Source: Wiktionary


Wink, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Winked; p. pr. & vb. n. Winking.] Etym: [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 to waver, G. wanken, and perhaps to E. weak; cf. AS. wincel a corner. Cf. Wench, Wince, v. 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. 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. Winking monkey (Zoöl.), the white-nosed monkey (Cersopithecus nictitans).

Wink, v. t.

Definition: To cause (the eyes) to wink.[Colloq.]

Wink, n.

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. Shak. 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

27 December 2024

OBLIGATE

(adjective) restricted to a particular condition of life; “an obligate anaerobe can survive only in the absence of oxygen”


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