ink
[ingk]
- a fluid or viscous substance used for writing or printing.
- a dark, protective fluid ejected by the cuttlefish and other cephalopods.
- Informal. publicity, especially in print media: Their construction plans got some ink in the local paper.
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- to mark, stain, cover, or smear with ink: to ink one's clothes.
- Slang. to sign one's name to (an official document): We expect to ink the contract tomorrow.
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Origin of ink
1200–50; Middle English inke, enke < Old French enque < Late Latin encautum, variant of encaustum < Greek énkauston purple ink, noun use of neuter of énkaustos burnt in. See encaustic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
streak, impression, point, stamp, symbol, spot, imprint, record, score, signature, stain, scar, line, infamy, celebrity, spotlight, renown, opprobrium, fame, flakExamples from the Web for ink
Contemporary Examples
The edges of the elegant paper are crackled; the ink bled into the linen weave long ago and has not faded.
A lot of ink will continue to be spilled about the first-order problems surrounding that fact.
His ink ranges from images of his children to the Superman logo (that one seems especially fitting given his leaping blocks).
Nor does the suggestion that her justified complaints about pay inequity played no part in her ouster hold much printer's ink.
The Hypocrisy Behind The New York Times’s Abrupt Decapitation of Jill AbramsonRobert Shrum
May 18, 2014
Unfortunately, the papyrus was too fragile to allow for carbon testing of the ink.
Historical Examples
There is a reference to “pen and ink” in the 3d Epistle of John xiii.
The Story of the Invention of Steel PensHenry Bore
Strange, that the mere identity of paper and ink should be so powerful.
A Book of AutographsNathaniel Hawthorne
You could see them as plain as if they was painted on the moon with ink.
Tom Sawyer AbroadMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
There was paper, there was ink and there was a pen with a new nib in it, and blotting paper!
The Foolish LoversSt. John G. Ervine
But it is time to lay down my pen, since my ink runs nothing but gall.
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
ink
- a fluid or paste used for printing, writing, and drawing
- a dark brown fluid ejected into the water for self-concealment by an octopus or related mollusc from a gland (ink sac) near the anus
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- to mark with ink
- to coat (a printing surface) with ink
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French enque, from Late Latin encaustum a purplish-red ink, from Greek enkauston purple ink, from enkaustos burnt in, from enkaiein to burn in; see en- ², caustic
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for ink
n.
"the black liquor with which men write" [Johnson], mid-13c., from Old French enque "dark writing fluid" (11c.), from Late Latin encaustum, from Greek enkauston "purple or red ink," used by the Roman emperors to sign documents, originally a neuter adjective form of enkaustos "burned in," from stem of enkaiein "to burn in," from en- "in" + kaiein "to burn" (see caustic). The word is from a Greek method of applying colored wax and fixing it with heat. The Old English word for it was simply blæc, literally "black." Ink-blot test attested from 1928.
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v.
"to mark or stain in ink," 1560s, from ink (n.). Meaning "to cover (a printing plate, etc.) with ink" is from 1727. Related: Inked; inking.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ink
[ĭngk]
- A dark liquid ejected for protection by most cephalopods, including the octopus and squid. Ink consists of highly concentrated melanin.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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