blink

CEFRC1

/blɪŋk/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To close and quickly open your eyes.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To close and reopen both eyes quickly.

Examples

  • The police usually blink at cars parked here.

  • The TV is on the blink.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye.

  2. To close and reopen one's eyes to remove (something) from on or around the eyes.

  3. To see with the eyes half shut, or indistinctly and with frequent winking, as a person with weak eyes.

More examples

In context

  • The blinking text on the screen was distracting.

  • The loser in the staring game is the person who blinks first.

  • She blinked her tears away.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She tried not to blank during the staring contest, but her eyes began to water.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English blynken, blenken, from Old English *blincan (suggested by causative verb blenċan (“to deceive”); > English blench), from Proto-Germanic *blinkaną, a variant of *blīkaną (“to gleam, shine”). Cognate with Dutch blinken (“to glitter, shine”), German blinken (“to flash, blink”), Danish blinke (“to flash, twinkle, wink, blink”), Swedish blinka (“to flash, blink, twinkle, wink, blink”). Related to blank, blick, blike, bleak.