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Wiktionary

blink

Contents

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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”), Swedish blinka (“to flash, blink, twinkle, wink”). Related to blank, blick, blike, bleak.

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

blink (third-person singular simple present blinks, present participle blinking, simple past and past participle blinked)

 
Example of a blinking human eye (slow-motion)
  1. (intransitive) To close and reopen both eyes quickly.
    The loser in the staring game is the person who blinks first.
    1. (transitive) To close and reopen one's eyes to remove (something) from on or around the eyes.
      She blinked her tears away.
    2. To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye.
      • Alexander Pope
        One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame.
    3. To see with the eyes half shut, or indistinctly and with frequent winking, as a person with weak eyes.
      • Shakespeare
        Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne.
    4. To shine, especially with intermittent light; to twinkle; to flicker; to glimmer, as a lamp.
      • Wordsworth
        The dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink.
      • Sir Walter Scott
        The sun blinked fair on pool and stream.
  2. To flash on and off at regular intervals.
    The blinking text on the screen was distracting.
    1. To flash headlights on a car at.
      An urban legend claims that gang members will attack anyone who blinks them.
    2. To send a signal with a lighting device.
      Don't come to the door until I blink twice.
  3. (hyperbolic) To perform the smallest action that could solicit a response.
    • 1980, Billy Joel, “Don't Ask Me Why”, Glass Houses, Columbia Records
      All the waiters in your grand cafe / Leave their tables when you blink.
  4. To shut out of sight; to evade; to shirk.
    to blink the question
  5. (Scotland) To trick; to deceive.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)
  6. To turn slightly sour, or blinky, as beer, milk, etc.
  7. (video games) To teleport, mostly for short distances

SynonymsEdit

  • (close and open both eyes quickly): nictitate

TranslationsEdit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

NounEdit

blink (plural blinks)

  1. The act of very quickly closing both eyes and opening them again.
  2. (figuratively) The time needed to close and reopen one's eyes.
  3. (computing) A text formatting feature that causes text to disappear and reappear as a form of visual emphasis.
    • 2007, Cheryl D. Wise, Foundations of Microsoft Expression Web: The Basics and Beyond (page 150)
      I can think of no good reason to use blink because blinking text and images are annoying, they mark the creator as an amateur, and they have poor browser support.
  4. A glimpse or glance.
    • Bishop Hall
      This is the first blink that ever I had of him.
  5. (Britain, dialectal) gleam; glimmer; sparkle
    • Wordsworth
      Not a blink of light was there.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)
  6. (nautical) The dazzling whiteness about the horizon caused by the reflection of light from fields of ice at sea; iceblink
  7. (sports, in the plural) Boughs cast where deer are to pass, in order to turn or check them.
  8. (video games) An ability that allows teleporting, mostly for short distances

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

DanishEdit

VerbEdit

blink

  1. imperative of blinke

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • Audio
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪŋk

VerbEdit

blink

  1. first-person singular present indicative of blinken
  2. imperative of blinken

GermanEdit

VerbEdit

blink

  1. Imperative singular of blinken.
  2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of blinken.

Norwegian BokmålEdit

 
Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

EtymologyEdit

From the verb blinke

NounEdit

blink m (definite singular blinken, indefinite plural blinker, definite plural blinkene)

  1. a target, bullseye
    treffe midt i blinken ― hit the bullseye

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

NounEdit

blink n

  1. lightning

Derived termsEdit

See alsoEdit

VerbEdit

blink

  1. imperative of blinke

ReferencesEdit

Norwegian NynorskEdit

 
Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

EtymologyEdit

From the verb blinke

NounEdit

blink m (definite singular blinken, indefinite plural blinkar, definite plural blinkane)

  1. a target, bullseye

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

VerbEdit

blink

  1. imperative of blinka and blinke

ReferencesEdit

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