clink

[ klingk ]

/ klɪŋk /

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See synonyms for: clink / clinking on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with or without object)

to make or cause to make a light, sharp, ringing sound: The coins clinked together. He clinked the fork against a glass.

noun

a clinking sound.

Metallurgy. a small crack in a steel ingot resulting from uneven expanding or contracting.

a pointed steel bar for breaking up road surfaces.

Archaic. a rhyme; jingle.

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Origin of clink

1275–1325; Middle English clinken, perhaps <Middle Dutch clinken to sound, ring, resound

Words nearby clink

clinical thermometer, clinical trial, clinician, clinicopathologic, clinid, clink, clinker, clinker-built, clinkety-clank, clinkstone, clino-

Other definitions for clink (2 of 2)

clink²

[ klingk ]

/ klɪŋk /

noun Slang.

a prison; jail; lockup.

Origin of clink

1505–15; after Clink, name of prison in Southwark, London, perhaps <Dutch klink door-latch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use clink in a sentence

I’m in a dimly lit steakhouse with a crowd of fellow diners around me, their voices and the clinks of glassware harmonizing into a convivial hum, no masks to be seen or six feet of social distance observed.
We’re all fantasizing about post-covid dining now: “I just want someone to spill a beer on me”|Emily Heil|February 12, 2021|Washington Post
You can clink your wine glass and deliver an impassioned speech about conquering the demons that kept you confined in the closet.
How to Make It Through Thanksgiving Alive|Lizzie Crocker|November 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Sannikov and the other opposition candidates are arrested and thrown in the clink, along with thousands of ordinary citizens.
The Belarus Free Theatre’s Badass Dissident Artists Get the HBO Treatment|Katie Baker|July 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The penalty was what Kozlovsky alluded to without knowledge of its origin: 15 days in the clink, plus a fine.
Putin’s Police Arrest Pussy Riot Again In Court Crackdown|Michael Weiss|February 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST

All day long the place rings with the clink of hammers and the clang of metal bars.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show|Robert W. Chambers|February 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Try to remember that name as you curse him out on your way to the clink.
Fidel Castro Hates Monopoly & 12 More Reasons to Love It|Caroline Linton|February 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The clink of the stone-masons' chisels had resounded year after year from morning till night.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
When a man's in clink, his nag gets nothing but mild exercise till his rightful rider gets out.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
Fragment, apparently from a columnar mass, of a stone intermediate between clink-stone and compact felspar.
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia] [Volume 2 of 2]|Phillip Parker King
The north of Blue-Mud Bay has furnished also specimens of ancient sandstone; with columnar rocks, probably of clink-stone.
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia] [Volume 2 of 2]|Phillip Parker King
I have now sent three letters to the tenant, one Clink, by teamsters, and he has never replied.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton

British Dictionary definitions for clink (1 of 2)

clink¹

/ (klɪŋk) /

verb

to make or cause to make a light and sharply ringing sound

noun

a light and sharply ringing sound

British a pointed steel tool used for breaking up the surface of a road before it is repaired

Word Origin for clink

C14: perhaps from Middle Dutch klinken; related to Old Low German chlanch, German Klang sound

British Dictionary definitions for clink (2 of 2)

clink²

/ (klɪŋk) /

noun

a slang word for prison

Word Origin for clink

C16: after Clink, name of a prison in Southwark, London

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

clink

Origin of clink

Words nearby clink

Other definitions for clink (2 of 2)

Origin of clink

Words related to clink

How to use clink in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for clink (1 of 2)

Word Origin for clink

British Dictionary definitions for clink (2 of 2)

Word Origin for clink