slink

[slingk]

verb (used without object)

slunk , slank , slunk , slinking .

1. to move or go in a furtive, abject manner, as from fear, cowardice, or shame.

   Synonyms: lurk, sneak, skulk

2. to walk or move in a slow, sinuous, provocative way.

verb (used with object)

slunk , slank , slunk , slinking .

1. (especially of cows) to bring forth (young) prematurely.

noun

1. a prematurely born calf or other animal.

adjective

1. born prematurely.

   a slink calf.

slink

/ slɪŋk /

verb

1. (intr) to move or act in a furtive or cringing manner from or as if from fear, guilt, etc

2. (intr) to move in a sinuous alluring manner

3. (tr) (of animals, esp cows) to give birth to prematurely

noun

1. 1. an animal, esp a calf, born prematurely

   2. ( as modifier )

      slink veal

Other Word Forms

• slinkingly adverb
• outslink verb (used with object)
• unslinking adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of slink¹

First recorded before 1150; Middle English slynken (verb), Old English slincan “to creep, crawl”; cognate with Low German slinken, German schlinken

Word History and Origins

Origin of slink¹

Old English slincan; related to Middle Low German slinken to shrink, Old Swedish slinka to creep, Danish slunken limp

Example Sentences

“It’s a little bit like herding cats sometimes,” Kramer said of keeping volunteers from trying to slink away.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Exhausted and sick, he had slunk back to England to recover, to think, and to scheme.

Read more on Literature

Then she slunk away, disappearing into the shadows as if she had never been in the doorway at all.

Read more on Literature

Cars in their assigned parking spots; a stray cat, the one Michael had secretly named Tuxedo, slinking around the bushes; Mr. Mosley, the maintenance man, hefting a can of paint toward a vacant apartment.

Read more on Literature

Afterward, with the help of remaining friends, he slunk off to the U.S. in 1876, where he taught in Massachusetts for a while, then took up as a freelance newspaper writer in Chicago.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• lurk 
• meander 
• prowl 
• sidle 
• skitter 
• skulk 
• slither 
• sneak 
• undulate