blink
Pronunciation Verb

blink (blinks, present participle blinking; 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, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book II”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: Printed by W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott between the Temple-Gates, OCLC 670734254 ↗:
        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, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene i]:
        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.
      • The dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink.
      • 1803, Walter Scott, Thomas the Rhymer:
        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. (hyperbole) 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. (transitive) To shut out of sight; to evade; to shirk.
    to blink the question
  5. (Scotland) To trick; to deceive.
  6. To turn slightly sour, or blinky, as beer, milk, etc.
  7. (scifi, video games) To teleport, mostly for short distances.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations 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.
    • This is the first blink that ever I had of him.
  5. (UK, dialect) gleam; glimmer; sparkle
    • Not a blink of light was there.
  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
Translations
  • French: coup d’œil
  • Italian: battito di ciglia, occhiata, in un batter d'occhio
  • Portuguese: olhadela
  • Russian: миг
Translations Translations
  • French: clin d’œil



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