wink

CEFRB1

/ˈwɪŋk/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To close and open one eye quickly as a signal or joke.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

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

Examples

  • I could hardly get a wink of sleep last night.

  • Last night I did not get a wink of sleep.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
3

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To close one's eyes in sleep.

  2. To close one's eyes.

  3. To close one's eyes quickly and involuntarily; to blink.

More examples

In context

  • He winked at me. She winked her eye. He winked his assent.

  • Her kitchen is a series of Still Lives; the copper pans wink on the walls.

  • It’s many’s the time I shot the selfsame rifiie before, and it’s many ’s the time after, but niver a wink of the same have I seen. 'T was the sight of a lifetime.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He gave her a quick blank as a secret signal across the room.

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

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English wynken, from Old English wincian (“to wink, make a sign, close the eyes, blink”, weak verb), from Proto-West Germanic *winkōn (“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 Saterland Frisian wäänke, Dutch wenken (“to beckon, motion”), Latin vacillare (“sway”), Lithuanian véngti (“to swerve, avoid”), Albanian vang (“tire, felloe”), Sanskrit वङ्गति (vaṅgati, “(he, she) limps”), French guigner (“to eye, sneak a look at”).