• Blink

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -ɪŋk

    Origin

    From Middle Dutch blinken. Related to blank.

    Full definition of blink

    Verb

    1. To close and reopen both eyes quickly.The loser in the staring game is the person who blinks first.
    2. To flash headlights on a car at.An urban legend claims that gang members will attack anyone who blinks them.
    3. To send a signal with a lighting device.Don't come to the door until I blink twice.
    4. To flash on and off at regular intervals.The blinking text on the screen was distracting.
    5. (hyperbole) To perform the smallest action that could solicit a response.
      • 1980, Billy Joel, “Don't Ask Me Why”, Glass Houses, Columbia RecordsAll the waiters in your grand cafe
        Leave their tables when you blink.
    6. To shut out of sight; to evade; to shirk.to blink the question
    7. (Scotland) To trick; to deceive.
    8. To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye.
      • Alexander PopeOne eye was blinking, and one leg was lame.
    9. To see with the eyes half shut, or indistinctly and with frequent winking, as a person with weak eyes.
      • ShakespeareShow me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne.
    10. To shine, especially with intermittent light; to twinkle; to flicker; to glimmer, as a lamp.
      • WordsworthThe dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink.
      • Sir Walter ScottThe sun blinked fair on pool and stream.
    11. To turn slightly sour, or blinky, as beer, milk, etc.

    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 HallThis is the first blink that ever I had of him.
    5. (UK, dialect) gleam; glimmer; sparkle
      • WordsworthNot a blink of light was there.
    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.

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