FromMiddle Englishclinken, fromOld English*clincan (compareclynnan,clynian(“to sound; resound”)), fromProto-Germanic*klinganą(“to sound”). Cognates includeMiddle Dutchklinken andGermanklingen. Related tocling(sound) andclang. May be further related tocall.
Perhaps of onomatopoeic origin, as metal against metal.
clink (pluralclinks)
Theclink of metal being dropped on the ground
- (onomatopoeia) The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass.
- You could hear theclink of the glasses from the next room.
- 1874,Marcus Clarke,For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V
- When Frere had come down, an hour before, the prisoners were all snugly between their blankets. They were not so now; though, at the firstclink of the bolts, they would be back again in their old positions, to all appearances sound asleep.
- Stress cracks produced in metalingots as they cool after being cast.
clink (third-person singular simple presentclinks,present participleclinking,simple past and past participleclinked)
- (ambitransitive) To make a clinking sound; to make a sound of metal on metal or glass on glass; tostrike materials such as metal or glass against one another.
The hammersclinked on the stone all night.
1830 June,Alfred Tennyson, “Mariana”, inPoems. […], volume I, London:Edward Moxon, […], published1842,→OCLC, stanza I,page10:The broken sheds look'd sad and strange, / Unlifted was theclinking latch, / Weeded and worn the ancient thatch / upon the lonely moated grange.
2022,Ling Ma, “G”, inBliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,→ISBN:On the other side: the rich, beautiful tapestry of WASP culture that constituted Levis's life—friends playing horseshoes at backyard cocktail parties, where girls swanned in chaise longues,clinking their gin and tonics.
- (humorous, dated) Torhyme.
Fromthe Clink prison inSouthwark,London, itself presumably named after sound of doors being bolted or chains rattling.
clink (pluralclinks)
- (dated, slang) Aprison.
If he keeps doing things like that, he’s sure to end up in theclink.
clink (third-person singular simple presentclinks,present participleclinking,simple past and past participleclinked)
- (transitive, Scotland) Toclinch; torivet.
