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Webster 1913 Edition

Blink

Blink

(blĭṉk)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Blinked
(blĭṉkt)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Blinking
.]
[OE.
blenken
; akin to dan.
blinke
, Sw.
blinka
, G.
blinken
to shine, glance, wink, twinkle, D. blinken to shine; and prob. to D.
blikken
to glance, twinkle, G.
blicken
to look, glance, AS. blī
can
to shine, E.
bleak
. √98. See
Bleak
; cf. 1st
Blench
.]
1.
To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye.
One eye was
blinking
, and one leg was lame.
Pope
2.
To see with the eyes half shut, or indistinctly and with frequent winking, as a person with weak eyes.
Show me thy chink, to
blink
through with mine eyne.
Shakespeare
3.
To shine, esp. with intermittent light; to twinkle; to flicker; to glimmer, as a lamp.
The dew was falling fast, the stars began to
blink
.
Wordsworth.
The sun
blinked
fair on pool and stream .
Sir W. Scott.
4.
To turn slightly sour, as beer, mild, etc.

Blink

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To shut out of sight; to avoid, or purposely evade; to shirk;
as, to
blink
the question
.
2.
To trick; to deceive.
[Scot.]
Jamieson.

Blink

,
Noun.
[OE.
blink
. See
Blink
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
A glimpse or glance.
This is the first
blink
that ever I had of him.
Bp. Hall.
2.
Gleam; glimmer; sparkle.
Sir W. Scott.
Not a
blink
of light was there.
Wordsworth.
3.
(Naut.)
The dazzling whiteness about the horizon caused by the reflection of light from fields of ice at sea; ice blink.
4.
pl.
[Cf.
Blencher
.]
(Sporting)
Boughs cast where deer are to pass, to turn or check them.
[Prov. Eng.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Blink

BLINK

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To wink; to twinkle with the eye.
2.
To see obscurely. Johnson. Is it not to see with the eyes half shut, or with frequent winking, as a person with weak eyes?
One eye was blinking and one leg was lame.

BLINK

,
Noun.
A glimpse or glance.

BLINK

,
Noun.
Blink of ice, is the dazzling whiteness about the horizon, occasioned by the reflection of light from fields of ice at sea.

Definition 2024

blink

blink

English

Verb

blink ‎(third-person singular simple present blinks, present participle blinking, simple past and past participle blinked)

Example of a blinking human eye (slow-motion)
  1. (intransitive) To close and reopen both eyes quickly.
    The loser in the staring game is the person who blinks first.
    1. (transitive) To close and reopen one's eyes to remove (something) from on or around the eyes.
      She blinked her tears away.
    2. To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye.
      • Alexander Pope
        One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame.
    3. To see with the eyes half shut, or indistinctly and with frequent winking, as a person with weak eyes.
      • Shakespeare
        Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne.
    4. To shine, especially with intermittent light; to twinkle; to flicker; to glimmer, as a lamp.
      • Wordsworth
        The dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink.
      • Sir Walter Scott
        The sun blinked fair on pool and stream.
  2. To flash on and off at regular intervals.
    The blinking text on the screen was distracting.
    1. To flash headlights on a car at.
      An urban legend claims that gang members will attack anyone who blinks them.
    2. To send a signal with a lighting device.
      Don't come to the door until I blink twice.
  3. (hyperbolic) To perform the smallest action that could solicit a response.
    • 1980, Billy Joel, “Don't Ask Me Why”, Glass Houses, Columbia Records
      All the waiters in your grand cafe / Leave their tables when you blink.
  4. To shut out of sight; to evade; to shirk.
    to blink the question
  5. (Scotland) To trick; to deceive.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)
  6. To turn slightly sour, or blinky, as beer, milk, etc.
  7. (video games) To teleport, mostly for short distances

Translations

Noun

blink ‎(plural blinks)

  1. The act of very quickly closing both eyes and opening them again.
  2. (figuratively) The time needed to close and reopen one's eyes.
  3. (computing) A text formatting feature that causes text to disappear and reappear as a form of visual emphasis.
    • 2007, Cheryl D. Wise, Foundations of Microsoft Expression Web: The Basics and Beyond (page 150)
      I can think of no good reason to use blink because blinking text and images are annoying, they mark the creator as an amateur, and they have poor browser support.
  4. A glimpse or glance.
    • Bishop Hall
      This is the first blink that ever I had of him.
  5. (Britain, dialect) gleam; glimmer; sparkle
    • Wordsworth
      Not a blink of light was there.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)
  6. (nautical) The dazzling whiteness about the horizon caused by the reflection of light from fields of ice at sea; iceblink
  7. (sports, in the plural) Boughs cast where deer are to pass, in order to turn or check them.
  8. (video games) An ability that allows teleporting, mostly for short distances

Translations

Related terms

Danish

Verb

blink

  1. imperative of blinke

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɪŋk

Verb

blink

  1. first-person singular present indicative of blinken
  2. imperative of blinken

German

Verb

blink

  1. Imperative singular of blinken.
  2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of blinken.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

blink n

  1. lightning

Derived terms

See also

  • lynglimt

Verb

blink

  1. imperative of blinke

Etymology

From Middle English blynken, blenken, from Old English *blincan (suggested by causative verb blenċan ("to deceive"; > English blench)), from Proto-Germanic *blinkaną, a variant of *blīkaną ‎(“to gleam, shine”). Cognate with Dutch blinken ‎(“to glitter, shine”), German blinken ‎(“to flash, blink”), Danish blinke ‎(“to flash, twinkle, wink”), Swedish blinka ‎(“to flash, blink, twinkle, wink”). Related to blank, blick, blike, bleak.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɪŋk

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