wink

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Winked p. pr. & vb. n. Winking. ] [ OE. winken, AS. wincian; akin to D. wenken, G. winken to wink, nod, beckon, OHG. winchan, Sw. vinka, Dan. vinke, AS. wancol wavering, OHG. wanchal wavering, wanch&unr_;n to waver, G. wanken, and perhaps to E. weak; cf. AS. wincel a corner. Cf. Wench, Wince, v. i. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To nod; to sleep; to nap. [ Obs. ] “Although I wake or wink.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To shut the eyes quickly; to close the eyelids with a quick motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

He must wink, so loud he would cry. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

And I will wink, so shall the day seem night. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

They are not blind, but they wink. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To close and open the eyelids quickly; to nictitate; to blink. [ 1913 Webster ]

A baby of some three months old, who winked, and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To give a hint by a motion of the eyelids, often those of one eye only. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wink at the footman to leave him without a plate. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To avoid taking notice, as if by shutting the eyes; to connive at anything; to be tolerant; -- generally with at. [ 1913 Webster ]

The times of this ignorance God winked at. Acts xvii. 30. [ 1913 Webster ]

And yet, as though he knew it not,
His knowledge winks, and lets his humors reign. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

Obstinacy can not be winked at, but must be subdued. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To be dim and flicker; as, the light winks. [ 1913 Webster ]

Winking monkey (Zool.), the white-nosed monkey (Cersopithecus nictitans). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cause (the eyes) to wink.[ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who winks. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A horse's blinder; a blinker. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a winking manner; with the eye almost closed. Peacham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. wincle. ] (Zool.) (a) Any periwinkle. Holland. (b) Any one of various marine spiral gastropods, esp., in the United States, either of two species of Fulgar (Fulgar canaliculata, and Fulgar carica). [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ These are large mollusks which often destroy large numbers of oysters by drilling their shells and sucking their blood. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sting winkle, a European spinose marine shell (Murex erinaceus). See Illust. of Murex. [ 1913 Webster ]