Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A tinkling noise; the sound of successive tinks or clinks.
  • noun A kind of blackbird, Quiscalus crassirostris, common in Jamaica : so called from its notes.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A tinkle, or succession of tinkles.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A grackle (Quiscalus crassirostris) native of Jamaica. It often associates with domestic cattle, and rids them of insects.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A tinkle; a tinkling sound.
  • noun The grackle.
  • adjective One that tinkles.
  • verb Present participle of tinkle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective like the short high ringing sound of a small bell

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The day begins with dazzling light which is described as "tinkling bright silk thread" and "blazing needlework", where "one line springs from another, like vein branching from vein on a birch leaf, or the back of one's hand, or a precious stone".

    From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón - review 2011

  • Later, the bishop led me across his red shag carpet to a white fountain tinkling in the corner of his office.

    God’s Country 2008

  • Later, the bishop led me across his red shag carpet to a white fountain tinkling in the corner of his office.

    God’s Country 2008

  • At nine o'clock went to the Vatican; two large fantails with ostrich feathers; ladies penned up; Pope; cardinals kiss his hand in rotation; address in Latin, tinkling, like water gurgling from a bottle.

    Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals In Two Volumes, Volume I. 1831

  • Because of the years of subjecting my eardrums to the sounds of high energy dance music, I thought he said "tinkling".

    unclebob Diary Entry unclebob 2004

  • After dinner, when Celia was playing an "air, with variations," a small kind of tinkling which symbolized the aesthetic part of the young ladies 'education, Dorothea went up to her room to answer Mr. Casaubon's letter.

    Middlemarch: a study of provincial life (1900) 1871

  • After dinner, when Celia was playing an "air, with variations," a small kind of tinkling which symbolized the aesthetic part of the young ladies 'education, Dorothea went up to her room to answer Mr. Casaubon's letter.

    Middlemarch George Eliot 1849

  • I could hear the sound of ice being scooped and dropped into tumblers, the sound of adults walking past with the liquid and frozen water making "tinkling" noises around me.

    Adoro te Devote 2008

  • 'tinkling' of Peter's hammer to know a brief respite.

    The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume III The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century Various

  • a small kind of tinkling which symbolized the aesthetic part of the young ladies 'education, Dorothea went up to her room to answer

    Middlemarch 1871

Comments

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  • Also a coy (usually female) euphemism for urination.

    July 8, 2008