▪ I. pinky, a.1
(ˈpɪŋkɪ)
[f. pink n.4 or a.1 + -y: cf. rosy, creamy, etc.]
Tinged with or inclining to pink. a. Qualifying other adjs. or ns. of colour.
| 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 225 Pileus and stem pinky white. 1817 Coleridge Picture Poems 1829 I. 177 Sketched on a strip of pinky-silver skin. 1901 G. Douglas Ho.w. Green Shutters 101 A piece of pinkey-brown paper in his hand..was the first telegram ever seen in Barbie. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 2 Mar. 17/1 The little habit coats..are generally faced with..emerald-green, or blue, or even pinky-red. 1927 D. H. Lawrence Mornings in Mexico 29 Pale belly, and soft, pinky-fawn claws. 1946 G. Millar Horned Pigeon vii. 78 The pinky-red pantiles of the terraced village. 1974 Country Life 2 May 1055/2 Raised panels..painted in imitation of pinky-grey marble. 1975 C. Fremlin Long Shadow x. 77 Myrtle's pinky-orangey lighting. 1977 Vogue Feb. 94 Pinky blonde, double-faced wool shirtjacket. |
b. Qualifying ns. in gen. Chiefly poet. or rhet.
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 208 The wild-thyme's pinky bells. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 340 The urine..sometimes deposits a pinky sediment. 1872 Calverley Fly Leaves, Lovers & a Reflection, Or rosy as pinks, or as roses pinky. |
c. Comb., as pinky-coloured adj. Also pinky-faded adj.
| 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. xvi. (1882) 160 note, Two engravings, the one a pinky-coloured plate of the day, the other a masterly etching by Salvator Rosa. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Glad Ghosts 23 A big pinky-faded carpet. |
▪ II. pinky, a.2 and n.
see pinkie.