blink

English

Etymology

From Middle English blynken, blenken, from Old English blincan (suggested by causative verb blenċan (“to deceive”); > English blench), from Proto-Germanic *blinkaną, a variant of *blīkaną (“to gleam, shine”).

Cognate with Dutch blinken (“to glitter, shine”), German blinken (“to flash, blink”), Danish blinke (“to flash, twinkle, wink, blink”), Swedish blinka (“to flash, blink, twinkle, wink, blink”). Related to blank, blick, blike, bleak.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɪŋk/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋk

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Verb

blink (third-person singular simple present blinks, present participle blinking, simple past and past participle blinked)

1. (intransitive) To close and reopen both eyes quickly.

   The loser in the staring game is the person who blinks first.

   1. (transitive) To close and reopen one's eyes to remove (something) from on or around the eyes.

      She blinked her tears away.

   2. To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye.
      • 1715–1720, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book II”, in The Iliad of Homer, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: W Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott , →OCLC:

        One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame.

   3. To see with the eyes half shut, or indistinctly and with frequent winking, as a person with weak eyes.
      • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

        Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne.

   4. To shine, especially with intermittent light; to twinkle; to flicker; to glimmer, as a lamp.
      • 1800, William Wordsworth, The Pet-Lamb:

        The dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink.

      • 1803, Walter Scott, Thomas the Rhymer:

        The sun blinked fair on pool and stream.

   5. (Geordie, obsolete) To glance.
      • 1850, J. P. Robson, editor, Songs of the bards of the Tyne; or, A choice selection of original songs chiefly in the Newcastle dialect., page 485:

        Now exile is over, I'll fly to the north,
        The home of my childhood, the place of my birth;
        O the transports of gladness that over me reign,
        To blink upon canny Newcastle again!

2. To flash on and off at regular intervals.

   The blinking text on the screen was distracting.

   1. To flash headlights on a car at.

      An urban legend claims that gang members will attack anyone who blinks them.

   2. To send a signal with a lighting device.

      Don't come to the door until I blink twice.

3. (hyperbolic) To perform the smallest action that could solicit a response.
   • 1980, Billy Joel, “Don't Ask Me Why”, in Glass Houses, Columbia Records:

     All the waiters in your grand cafe / Leave their tables when you blink.

4. (in negative constructions) To have the slightest doubt, hesitation or remorse.

   The soldier shot the intruders without so much as blinking.

5. (transitive) To shut out of sight; to evade; to shirk.

   to blink the question

   • 1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 199:

     I have no wish to blink or extenuate the serious nature of the difficulty arising from this discrepancy of dates.

6. To turn slightly sour, or blinky, as beer, milk, etc.
7. (science fiction, video games) To teleport, mostly for short distances.

Synonyms

• (close and open both eyes quickly): nictitate

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

blink (countable and uncountable, plural blinks)

1. The act of 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.
   • 1612–1626, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in , volumes (please specify |volume=II, V, or VI), London, →OCLC:

     This is the first blink that ever I had of him.

5. (UK, dialect) gleam; glimmer; sparkle
   • 1835, William Wordsworth, Address from the Spirit of Cockermouth Castle:

     Not a blink of light was there.

   • 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “(please specify the introduction or canto number, or chapter name)”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: J Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, ; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC:

     this man vanished away […] as he had been a blink of the sun

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.
8. (video games) An ability that allows teleporting, mostly for short distances

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Danish

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinke

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋk

Verb

blink

1. inflection of blinken:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

blink

1. singular imperative of blinken
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of blinken

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

skyteskive

Wikipedia ^no

Etymology

From the verb blinke.

Noun

blink m (definite singular blinken, indefinite plural blinker, definite plural blinkene)

1. a target, bullseye

   treffe midt i blinken ― hit the bullseye

Synonyms

• skyteskive

Derived terms

• midt i blinken

Noun

blink n

1. flash, glimpse

Derived terms

• blinklys
• øyeblikk

See also

• lynglimt

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinke

References

• “blink” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

blink

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Etymology

From the verb blinke.

Noun

blink m (definite singular blinken, indefinite plural blinkar, definite plural blinkane)

1. a target, bullseye

Synonyms

• skyteskive

Derived terms

• augneblink

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinka

References

• “blink” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Noun

blink c

1. a blink, a flash

   Synonym: blinkning

   i ett blink

   in the blink of an eye / in a flash

Declension

Noun

blink n

1. flashing, blinking

   Synonym: blinkande

Declension

Related terms

• blinka
• blinkers
• blinkning

References

• blink in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• blink in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• blink in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)