tinkle

[ ting-kuhl ]

/ ˈtɪŋ kəl /

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See synonyms for: tinkle / tinkling on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object), tin·kled, tin·kling.

to give forth or make a succession of short, light, ringing sounds, as a small bell.

to run one's fingers lightly over a keyboard instrument or to play such an instrument simply or badly.

Baby Talk. to urinate.

verb (used with object), tin·kled, tin·kling.

to cause to tinkle or jingle: The goat tinkled its bell every time it raised its head. Who's tinkling the piano?

to make known, call attention to, attract, or summon by tinkling.

noun

a tinkling sound or tune.

an act or instance of tinkling.

Informal. a telephone call: Give me a tinkle before you leave for Europe.

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Origin of tinkle

1350–1400; Middle English tynclen, frequentative of tinken to clink; imitative

OTHER WORDS FROM tinkle

outtinkle, verb (used with object), out·tin·kled, out·tin·kling.

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

How to use tinkle in a sentence

Tessie sat blowing rings of smoke up to the ceiling and tinkling the ice in her tumbler.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the Show|Robert W. Chambers|February 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At this moment the tinkling of a mule's bells, mingled with the song of the muleteer, came on the air.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846|Various
Chief and most musical among these signs were the almost forgotten sounds of dropping water, and tinkling rills.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
Soon he heard sleigh-bells tinkling past the window, then far down the road.
Seven O'Clock Stories|Robert Gordon Anderson

The deafening clangor soon dominated and completely drowned the isolated tinkling of the communal bell.
The Pilgrim's Shell or Fergan the Quarryman|Eugne Sue
The ninth line is—“From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.”
Assimilative Memory|Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)

British Dictionary definitions for tinkle

tinkle

/ (ˈtɪŋkəl) /

verb

to ring or cause to ring with a series of high tinny sounds, like a small bell

(tr) to announce or summon by such a ringing

(intr) British informal to urinate

noun

a high clear ringing sound

the act of tinkling

British informal a telephone call

Derived forms of tinkle

tinkling, adjective, nountinkly, adjective

Word Origin for tinkle

C14: of imitative origin

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

tinkle

Origin of tinkle

OTHER WORDS FROM tinkle

Words related to tinkle

How to use tinkle in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tinkle

Derived forms of tinkle

Word Origin for tinkle