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  1. clink love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To make or cause to make a light, sharp ringing sound: clinked their wineglasses together in a toast.
  2. n. A light, sharp ringing sound, as of glass or metal.
  3. n. Slang A prison or a prison cell; a jail: spent the night in the clink.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To ring or jingle; chink; give forth a sharp metallic sound, or a succession of such sounds, as small metallic or other sonorous bodies in collision.
  2. To cause a clinking sound by striking two objects, as glasses, together.
  3. To make a jingle; chime.
  4. To cause to produce a sharp, ringing sound: as, to clink glasses in drinking healths.
  5. To clench; weld; clasp; seize quickly.
  6. n. A sharp, ringing sound made by the collision of sonorous (especially metallic) bodies.
  7. n. A smart stroke.
  8. n. Money; chink: as, “needfu' clink,”
  9. n. A latch.
  10. n. A key.
  11. n. plural Long iron nails.
  12. n. The name of a prison or lockup in Southwark, London, often mentioned in the sixteenth century and later.
  13. n. [lowercase] Any prison.

Wiktionary

  1. n. onomatopoeia The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass.
  2. n. slang Jail or prison, after the Clink prison in Southwark, London. Used in the phrase in the clink.
  3. n. Stress cracks produced in metal ingots as they cool after being cast.
  4. v. To make a clinking sound; to make a sound of metal on metal or glass on glass; to strike materials such as metal or glass against one another.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To cause to give out a slight, sharp, tinkling, sound, as by striking metallic or other sonorous bodies together.
  2. v. To give out a slight, sharp, tinkling sound.
  3. v. To rhyme. [Humorous].
  4. n. A slight, sharp, tinkling sound, made by the collision of sonorous bodies.
  5. n. colloq. A prison cell; a lockup; -- probably orig. the name of the noted prison in Southwark, England.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
  2. v. make a high sound typical of glass
  3. v. make or emit a high sound
  4. n. a short light metallic sound

Etymologies

  1. (onomatopoeia), as metal against metal. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English clinken, probably from Middle Dutch klinken, of imitative origin.After Clink, a district of London famous for its prison. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (2)

Words with the same meaning

  1. lockup
  1. ring

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. sound
  1. go

same context (23)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. clank
  2. clinking
  3. clatter
  4. jingle
  1. tinkle
  2. chink
  3. thud
  4. jangle
  1. crunch
  2. creak
  3. scrape
  4. whirr
  1. rumble
  2. clack
  3. clop
  4. clash
  1. whine
  2. click
  3. clunk
  4. glint
  1. swish
  2. whoosh
  3. squeal

rhymes (37)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Chink
  2. Fink
  3. Inc
  4. Inc.
  5. bink
  6. blink
  7. brink
  1. chink
  2. cinque
  3. dink
  4. drink
  5. fink
  6. flink
  7. hink
  1. inc
  2. inc.
  3. ink
  4. interlink
  5. linc
  6. link
  7. mink
  1. minke
  2. pink
  3. plink
  4. rethink
  5. rink
  6. shrink
  7. sink
  1. spink
  2. stink
  3. swink
  4. sync
  5. think
  6. wink
  7. zinc
  1. zink
  2. zinke

reverse dictionary (8)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. clenk
  1. crambo-jingle
  1. clink
  1. clank
  1. plink
  1. tinkle
  1. jingle
  1. silver-shell

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. beer
  1. ccvcc
  1. scots

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘clink’.

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Comments

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  • hernesheir A woman who acts the part of a tale-bearer. Scots. Jun 24, 2011

  • cosmonautika This word just feels good when I say it. Jun 10, 2009

  • gangerh Clink! Jesus frog! I never realised what a kiss could be!
    You couldn't make it up. In order, the top three most commented on, currently. Sep 15, 2008

  • bilby I like klink. It's just ... better. Sep 15, 2008

  • reesetee Now's your chance! :-) Sep 15, 2008

  • asativum And I've got Wort to the Wise, which has various drinks amongst other brewing terms. If you look under porter, you'll find some other beer lists.

    There should be one called What Ales You, however. Sep 15, 2008

  • reesetee I've had one too (just for liqueurs), and I'm sure there are others. :-) Sep 14, 2008

  • plethora Someone does now, c_b. Sep 13, 2008

  • reesetee Wow. That's so...specific. Sep 13, 2008

  • yarb qroqqa, I refer you to weirdnet's eighth definition. Sep 13, 2008

  • qroqqa A prison door doesn't go 'clink'. That's a small noise appropriate to wine glasses. Doors, especially big doors, might go 'clank'. Sep 13, 2008

  • chained_bear The OED has this to say about the second definition of "clink" (the first is the noise, derived from German or Dutch klink):

    "The evidence appears to indicate that the name was proper to the Southwark ‘Clink’, and thence transferred elsewhere; but the converse may have been the fact. If the name was originally descriptive, various senses of clink, e.g. ‘to fasten securely’ (cf. ‘to get the clinch’, CLINCH n. 7), might have given rise to it. Cf. also CLINK n.4
    The name of a noted prison in Southwark; later used elsewhere (esp. in Devon and Cornwall) for a small and dismal prison or prison-cell, a lock-up. Now used generally for: prison, cells."

    And "clinch n.7" says this: "1847 G. W. M. REYNOLDS Myst. London III. xxv. 71/2 Should you do this and get the clinch. 1873 Slang Dict., To get the clinch: to be locked up in jail."

    Also, interestingly, clink can mean "A very small poor ale, brewed chiefly for the use of harvest labourers." Doesn't someone have a list of different kinds of alcohol? Sep 12, 2008

  • yarb It's got to be from the sound of the doors, surely? Probably the street was named for its prison, or it was coincidence. Sep 12, 2008

  • bilby British slang - "Noun. Prison. It is derived either from the name of Clink Street, London, on which a prison was situated, or from the sound of doors locking."
    - peevish.co.uk Sep 12, 2008

  • blark I like most slang for prisons. I also dig its onomatopoeic property. Jan 17, 2007

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‘clink’ has been looked up 2381 times, added to 24 lists, commented on 15 times, and has a Scrabble score of 11.