Wink
Wink , intransitive verb
[Old English winken, Anglo-Saxon wincian; akin to Dutch wenken, German winken to wink, nod, beckon, Old High German winchan, Swedish vinka, Danish vinke, Anglo-Saxon wancol wavering, Old High German wanchal wavering, wanch{not transcribed}n to waver, German wanken, and perhaps to English weak; compare Anglo-Saxon wincel a corner. Compare Wench, Wince, v. i.]
1.
To nod; to sleep; to nap. [Obsolete]
Although I wake or wink.
2.
To shut the eyes quickly; to close the eyelids with a quick motion.
He must wink, so loud he would cry.
And I will wink, so shall the day seem night.
They are not blind, but they wink.
3.
To close and open the eyelids quickly; to nictitate; to blink.
A baby of some three months old, who winked, and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day.
4.
To give a hint by a motion of the eyelids, often those of one eye only.
Wink at the footman to leave him without a plate.
5.
To avoid taking notice, as if by shutting the eyes; to connive at anything; to be tolerant; -- generally with at.
The times of this ignorance God winked at.
And yet, as though he knew it not,
His knowledge winks, and lets his humors reign.
Obstinacy can not be winked at, but must be subdued.
6.
To be dim and flicker; as, the light winks.
Collocations (1)
Winking monkey (Zoology) , the white-nosed monkey (Cersopithecus nictitans).
Wink , transitive verb
To cause (the eyes) to wink. [Colloquial]
Wink , noun
1.
The act of closing, or closing and opening, the eyelids quickly; hence, the time necessary for such an act; a moment.
I have not slept one wink.
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink.
2.
A hint given by shutting the eye with a significant cast. — Sir. P. Sidney
The stockjobber thus from Change Alley goes down,
And tips you, the freeman, a wink.