• (British) enPR: pĭngk, IPA: /pɪŋk/
• (America) IPA: /piŋk/, /pɪŋk/

pink (plural pinks)

1. (regional) The common minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus. [from 15th c.]
2. (regional) A young Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, before it becomes a smolt; a parr. [from 17th c.]

pink (plural pinks)

1. (now, historical) A narrow boat. [from 15th c.]

pink (pinks, present participle pinking; past and past participle pinked)

1. To decorate a piece of clothing or fabric by adding holes or by scalloping the fringe.
2. To prick with a sword.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 642:

     ‘Pugh!’ says she, ‘you have pinked a man in a duel, that's all.’

3. To wound by irony, criticism, or ridicule.
4. To choose; to cull; to pick out.

pink (plural pinks)

1. A stab.

pink (plural pinks)

1. Any of various flowers in the genus Dianthus, sometimes called carnations. [from 16th c.]

   This garden in particular has a beautiful bed of pinks.

2. (dated) A perfect example; excellence, perfection; the embodiment of some quality. [from 16th c.]

   Your hat, madam, is the very pink of fashion.

   • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, 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 II, scene iv]:

     Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy.

3. The colour of this flower, between red and white; pale red. [from 17th c.]

   My new dress is a wonderful shade of pink.

    

    

4. Hunting pink; scarlet, as worn by hunters. [from 18th c.]
   • 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin 2013, page 23:

     I had taken it for granted that there would be people ‘in pink’, but these enormous confident strangers overwhelmed me with the visible authenticity of their brick-red coats.

   • 1986, Michael J O'Shea, James Joyce and Heraldry, SUNY, page 69:

     it is interesting to note the curious legend that the pink of the hunting field is not due to any optical advantage but to an entirely different reason.

5. (snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 6 points. [from 19th c.]

   Oh dear, he's left himself snookered behind the pink.

6. (slang) An unlettered and uncultured, but relatively prosperous, member of the middle classes; compare babbitt, bourgeoisie.
7. Alternative form of pinko#English|pinko
8. (slang) The vagina or vulva.

• French: œillet
• German: Nelke
• Italian: garofano
• Portuguese: cravo
• Russian: гвозди́ка
• Spanish: clavel

• French: rose
• German: Rosa
• Italian: rosa
• Portuguese: cor-de-rosa, rosa
• Russian: ро́зовый
• Spanish: rosado, rosa

pink (comparative pinker, superlative pinkest)

1. Having a colour between red and white; pale red.
2. Of a fox-hunter's jacket: scarlet.
3. Having conjunctivitis.
4. (obsolete) By comparison to red (communist), describing someone who sympathizes with the ideals of communism without actually being a Russian-style communist: a pinko.
5. (informal) Relating to women or girls.

   pink-collar

   pink job

6. (informal) Relating to homosexuals as a group within society.

   the pink economy

   pink dollar

   pinkwashing

   pink triangle

• French: rose
• German: pink, rosa
• Italian: rosa
• Portuguese: cor-de-rosa, rosa
• Russian: ро́зовый
• Spanish: rosado

pink (pinks, present participle pinking; past and past participle pinked)

1. (intransitive) To become pink in color, to redden.
2. (transitive) To turn (something) pink.
   • 1961, Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana, New Directions Publishing, 2009, Act II, page 46,

     They are all nearly nude, pinked and bronzed by the sun.

   • 1985, Carl Sagan, Contact, Simon & Schuster, 1997, Chapter 3, page 57,

     The rabbits, still lining the roadside, but now pinked by dawn, craned their necks to follow her departure.

3. (transitive) To turn (a topaz or other gemstone) pink by the application of heat.

pink (pinks, present participle pinking; past and past participle pinked)

1. Of a motor car, to emit a high "pinking" noise, usually as a result of ill-set ignition timing for the fuel used (in a spark ignition engine).
2. Of a musical instrument, to sound a very high-pitched, short note.

• French: pétiller
• Russian: барахли́ть

pink (pinks, present participle pinking; past and past participle pinked)

1. (obsolete) To wink; to blink.

pink (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Half-shut; winking.

   c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, 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 II, scene vii]:

   Come, thou monarch of the vine,
   Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne!
   In thy vats our cares be drowned,
   With thy grapes our hairs be crowned.

pink (uncountable)

1. (historical) Any of various lake#Etymology 4 pigments or dyes in yellow, yellowish green, or brown shades made with plant coloring and a metallic oxide base.

1. Surname

pink (plural pinks)

1. (slang, derogatory, dated) An operative of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.