clink

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“
Looks like Madoff going to the clink is also going to mean the end of a serious money train for a lot of politicians according to this report by Open Secrets.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

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

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • The smoke from the mill kitchen chimney was whipped away by a stiff breeze and Campion caught a whiff of roasting meat and then she was driving past the town's clink, the small single cell jail with its door open onto mysterious shadow, and she was through the town. —  Title here
  • But he'd be out on bail—if I read your mother correctly—before he was fairly in the clink, and moreover he'd be smarting under a fresh 'injustice.' —  PARTONE
  • The oiled links of his armor did not clink, and Balthus knew Conan could glide through the deepest thicket or most tangled copse as noiselessly as any naked Pict that ever lived. —  Conan -- The Stories from Weird Tales (1932-1936)
  • All will be doing hard time in the clink, although none of them will have a sentence as long and harsh as repeat offender Nelly, whose new single, "Wadsyaname," has left a trio of beloved words - what's, your, and name - battered and bloodied beyond recognition. —  Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch
  • So far, the only one in the clink is Bernie Madoff and he was "a piker" compared to the bankers who peddled toxic assets like unverified "liars 'loan" mortgages as Triple-A quality goods. —  Consortiumnews.com
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

clank ·  clinking ·  clatter ·  jingle ·  tinkle ·  chink ·  thud ·  jangle ·  crunch ·  creak ·  scrape ·  whirr

Used in the same contextWord Family

clink:   clinked
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English clinken, probably from Middle Dutch klinken, of imitative origin.
  2. After Clink, a district of London famous for its prison.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English clinken (not in Anglo-Saxon) = Middle Dutch, Dutch klinken, clink, tinkle, = (with ng instead of nk) Middle Dutch Low German klingen = Old High German chlingan, Middle High German G. klingen = Danish klinge, freq. klingre, = Swedish klinga = Icelandic klingja, ring, tinkle, etc.; cf. Anglo-Saxon clynian (once), ring, as a shield when struck, = OFries. klinna, ring, as a coin. An imitative word, which may be regarded (in English) as a weakened form of clank: see clank and clang. In the sense of ‘clench, clinch,’ etc. (see II., 2), clink is but a variant of clinch, clench, with which clink in its orig. sense (def. 1) is closely related: see clench, clinch. Compare click, clink, with clack, clank. As to the imitation, cf. chink, tink, tinkle, ring.
  2. = Middle Dutch klincke, a blow, also a latch, Dutch klink, a blow, also a latch, rivet, also a clock, = Middle Low German klinke, klenke, a latch, bolt, = Middle High German G. klinke, a latch (klinkbolzen, a bolt, rivet), = Danish klinke, a latch, rivet, clinker, = Swedish klinka, a latch, klink, clincher-work; all variously from the verb. In the senses of ‘latch,’ ‘key,’ cf. clicket, from click.
 

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/klɪŋk/
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