▪ I. gimlet, n.1
(ˈgɪmlɪt)
Forms: 5 gym(e)lot, 5–6 gymlet, (6 gymlocke), 7–9 gimblet, 7– gimlet.
[a. OF. guinbelet, guimbelet (later guibelet, mod.F. gibelet), a dim. of the word (unrecorded in the Rom. langs.) which appears in Eng. as wimble.]
1. a. A kind of boring-tool (see quot. 1859).
| c 1420 Lydg. Assemb. Gods 357 Then came the good Bachus..On hys hede he had a thredebare kendall hood; A gymlot and a fauset thereopon stood. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 194/2 Gymelot, penetral. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 67 A gymlet sharpe to broche & perce sone to turne & twyne. 1530 Palsgr. 188 Foret, a gymlet. 1577 Harrison England i. viii. 19/1 in Holinshed, The salte rilles..doe so seperate the one of them from the other, that they resemble the slope course of the cutting part of a skrew or gimlet, in very perfite maner. 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass i. i, From thence shoot the Bridge, childe, to the Cranes i' the Vintry, And see, there the gimblets, how they make their entry! 1720 Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXI. 27 You must also Tap the Tree with a small Gimblet..so as to draw the Liquor off. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 252 Some have affirmed that the animal [the woodpecker] uses its tongue, as a gimblet, to bore with. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 158 Six large pieces of iron, about eighteen inches long, with a gimlet at one end of each, and a square at the other, which fitted to a handle. 1859 Gwilt Archit. (ed. 4) Gloss., Gimlet, or perhaps more properly Gimblet, a piece of steel of a semi-cylindrical form, hollow on one side, having a cross handle at one end and a worm or screw at the other. 1881 Young Every Man his own Mechanic §263. 98 Gimlets are of two kinds, plain and twisted. 1881 H. James Portr. Lady liv, She paused, with a gaze like a gimlet. |
b. fig.
| 1925 Hardy Human Shows 34 In the waves they bore their gimlets of light. 1946 John Bull 18 May 14/4 Crowthers was..a little gimlet of a man with glasses. |
c. A cocktail, usu. consisting of gin and lime-juice.
| 1928 D. B. Wesson I'll never be Cured iii. 73 The ‘Gimlet’ we were introduced to..at the Golf Club: and it proved to be the well and flavorably known ricky, but described as ‘gin, a spot of lime, and soda’. 1937 N. Coward Present Indicative ix. 378 Standing about in the ward-room accepting with gracious melancholy ‘gimlet’ after ‘gimlet’. 1953 R. Chandler Long Good-Bye (1959) iii. 18 A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose's Lime Juice and nothing else. |
2. (See quot.)
| 1769 Ellis in Phil. Trans. LIX. 150 Fig. 5. is the volvox terebrella, or the gimblet. This animal..moves along swiftly, turning itself round as it swims, just as if boring its way. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as gimlet-borer, gimlet-maker; gimlet-eye, (a) a squint-eye, (b) a sharp or piercing eye; hence gimlet-eyed a., having a gimlet-eye; gimlet-hole, a hole made by a gimlet.
| 1872–6 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3) s.v. Borer, A new pattern hand *gimlet borer has been introduced into the service..to be used instead of the hook borer. |
| 1825 Brockett N.C. Words, *Gimlick-eye, a squint, vulgo, cock⁓eye. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. iii, [A] head..from which one lively little gimlet eye went glancing about. 1894 Crockett Raiders 238 ‘What said ye yer name was?’ said the old dame again, looking at me with her gimlet eyes. |
| 1752 Foote Taste i. (1781) 10 She has a Sister at Hampton-Court..she had but one Eye, indeed, but that was a Piercer..we were called the *gimlet-ey'd Family. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Gimblet eyed, squinting. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Gimlet-eyed, squint-eyed or ‘swivel-eyed’. 1948 Wyndham Lewis Let. 30 Jan. (1963) 429 A gimlet eyed rat steeped in classical learning. 1956 Observer 18 Mar. 15/2 ‘All for Love, or the World Ill Lost’ is the message that issues from Shakespeare's gimlet-eyed indictment of Helen and Cressida. |
| 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. ii, A few *gimlet-holes to let in air. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 315 The cider..is to be drawn off the lees by boring a gimlet-hole at the bottom of the cask. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Gimlet-maker, Gimblet-maker. |
Hence ˈgimletize v. trans., to pierce with a gimlet (nonce-wd.).
| 1861 D. Cook P. Foster's D. ii, A private detective, ready to peer into anybody's cupboards and gimletise anybody's doors, upon the slightest provocation. |
Add: [3.] b. attrib. passing into adj. transf. Of sight, understanding, etc.: acute, sharp, piercing.
| 1894 Gimlet eyes [see sense 3 a above]. 1901 ‘G. Douglas’ House with Green Shutters xiv. 143 He was one of the gimlet characters who, by diligence and memory, gain prizes in their schooldays—and are fools for the remainder of their days. 1983 Sunday Tel. 9 Oct. 7/1 A swift, sidelong stare which manages to be gimlet and gleeful at the same time. |
▪ II. † ˈgimlet, n.2 Obs.
Forms: 4 gymlotte, 6 gymley, gymlett, 7 gymblett.
[app. an altered form (with substitution of -lotte, -let, for the equivalent -ling) of gimlin(ge, kimlin.]
A large shallow tub, used for salting bacon and for other purposes.
| c 1391 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 86, j scope et ij gym⁓lottes, xiijs. j ferdkyn (pr. iiijd.) pro nauibus. c 1562 Richmond. Wills (Surtees) 163 One showill and one gymley, xijd. 1574 Ibid. 251 Two gymletts for salting of fleshe in the larderhouse. 1610 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons App. 7 Itm formes ij, Itm tunnell dishes iij, Itm gymbletts j. |
▪ III. gimlet, v.
(ˈgɪmlɪt)
[f. gimlet n.1]
1. trans. To pierce with or as with a gimlet.
| 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xiii, The purple-faced vintner..stood transfixed, or morally gimleted as it were, to his own wall. 1841 Marryat Poacher xxxvii, We should rather say..gimleting, as it were, a hole in your side. 1896 Juloc Boarding Ho. Remin. 137 He had dark, piercing black eyes that simply gimleted you. |
2. refl. To thrust oneself or bore one's way like a gimlet. nonce-use.
| 1842 De Quincey Pagan Oracles Wks. 1862 VII. 206 The artist had but to excavate a peck or two of earth with his trowel; a rabbit's burrow was large enough; this he soon improved and widened, using his own body as a gimlet; and very soon he had gimleted himself down amongst the family rats. |
3. Naut. (See quot.)
| 1828 Webster, Gimblet..to turn round an anchor by the stock; a motion resembling that of the turning of a gimblet. 1846 in Worcester; and in later Dicts. |
Hence ˈgimleting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine, Gimbleting, a term particularly applied to the anchor, to denote the action of turning it round by the stock, so that the motion of the stock appears similar to that of the handle of a gimblet. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Gimbleting. 1875 I. L. Bird Sandwich Isl. (1880) 104 The most persistent, unwinking, gimleting stare I ever saw. |