blink

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”), Swedish blinka (“to flash, blink, twinkle, wink”). Related to blank, blick, blike, bleak.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪŋk

Verb

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

Example of a blinking human eye (slow-motion)

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.
      • Alexander Pope

        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.
      • Shakespeare

        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.
      • Wordsworth

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

      • Sir Walter Scott

        The sun blinked fair on pool and stream.

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”, Glass Houses, Columbia Records

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

4. To shut out of sight; to evade; to shirk.

   to blink the question

5. (Scotland) To trick; to deceive.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)

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

Noun

blink (plural blinks)

1. The act of very 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.
   • Bishop Hall

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

5. (Britain, dialect) gleam; glimmer; sparkle
   • Wordsworth

     Not a blink of light was there.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)

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

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinke

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋk

Verb

blink

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

Verb

blink

1. Imperative singular of blinken.
2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of blinken.

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

Noun

blink n

1. lightning

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinke

References

• “blink” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From the verb blinke

Noun

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

1. a target, bullseye

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinka and blinke

References

• “blink” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.