sinker

English

fishing sinkers

Etymology

to sink + -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɪŋkə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋkə(ɹ)

Noun

sinker (plural sinkers)

1. (fishing) A weight used in fishing to cause the line or net to sink

   Hook the sinker onto this loop.

2. (baseball) Any of several high speed pitches that have a downward motion near the plate; a two-seam fastball, a split-finger fastball, or a forkball

   His sinkers drew one ground ball after another.

3. (construction) Sinker nail, used for framing in current construction.
4. (slang) A doughnut; a biscuit.
   • 1926, Edna Ferber, Show Boat: A Novel, page 268

     Of the fifty cents, ten went for the glassy shoeshine; twenty-five for a boutonniere; ten for coffee and sinkers at the Cockeyed Bakery.

   • 2001, Gerald J. Prokopowicz, All for the Regiment: The Army of the Ohio, 1861-1862, page 148

     they improvised by opening a barrel of flour and letting each man dump in a quart of water (if he had one) and scoop out a handful of dough to bake into rock-hard sinkers.

   • 2003, William W. Johnstone, Ambush Of The Mountain Man, page 168

     "Gonna have to dip them sinkers in coffee to get 'em soft enough to chew," Jason Biggs said, grinning.

Translations

weight used in fishing

• French: plomb (fr) m

• Portuguese: chumbo (pt), chumbinho (pt), chumbada (pt)

baseball pitch

sinker nail — see sinker nail

(slang) doughnut; biscuit

See also

• (baseball pitches): curveball, slider, cut fastball, two-seam fastball, split-finger fastball, screwball, knuckleball

Anagrams

• inkers, reskin