wink

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See also Wink

Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English winken (strong verb) and Middle English winken (weak verb), from Old English *wincan (strong verb) and wincian (to wink, make a sign, close the eyes, blink, weak verb), from Proto-Germanic *winkaną (to move side to side, sway), *winkōną (to close one's eyes), from Proto-Indo-European *weng- (to bow, bend, arch, curve). Cognate with Middle Low German winken (to blink, wink), German winken (to nod, beckon, make a sign). Related also to East Frisian wäänke, Dutch wenken (to beckon, motion), Latin vacillare (sway), Lithuanian véngti (to swerve, avoid), Albanian  (vang, tire, felloe), Sanskrit  (vañcati, he swaggers).

Pronunciation [edit]

Verb [edit]

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

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To close one's eyes.
  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.
  3. (transitive, intransitive) To blink with only one eye as a message, signal, or suggestion.
    He winked at me.
    She winked her eye.
  4. (intransitive) To twinkle.
  5. (transitive) To send an indication of agreement by winking.

Translations [edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Noun [edit]

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 [edit]

Translations [edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

German [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /vɪŋk/

Verb [edit]

wink

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