tinkle
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.
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.
a tinkling sound or tune.
an act or instance of tinkling.
Informal. a telephone call: Give me a tinkle before you leave for Europe.
Origin of tinkle
1Other 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. 2024
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 | THE DAILY BEASTAt this moment the tinkling of a mule's bells, mingled with the song of the muleteer, came on the air.
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. BallantyneSoon he heard sleigh-bells tinkling past the window, then far down the road.
Seven O'Clock Stories | Robert Gordon AndersonThe 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
/ (ˈtɪŋkəl) /
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
a high clear ringing sound
the act of tinkling
British informal a telephone call
Origin of tinkle
1Derived forms of tinkle
- tinkling, adjective, noun
- tinkly, adjective
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
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