wink at

English

Verb

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

1. (idiomatic) To turn a blind eye to (something); to corruptly ignore (some wrongdoing); to pretend not to have seen (something); to signal one's approval of (illicit activities) while maintaining the ability to plausibly deny knowing about it; to tolerate or tacitly encourage (inappropriate, immoral or illegal behavior).