▪ I. winkle, n.
(ˈwɪŋk(ə)l)
Also 6 wincle, 7 winckle.
1. Shortened f. periwinkle2 (cf. wig from periwig).
| 1585 Higins Junius Nomencl. 65/2 Cochlea,..a Wincle: a periwincle or cockle. 1601 Holland Pliny viii. xxxix. I. 218 Lisards, (deadly enemies to the Snailes or Winkles above named). 1610 ― Camden's Brit. (1637) 727 Stones like unto sea winkles or cockles and other sea fish. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 601 It is called Concha..because it is like a Winkle or Periwinkle. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxi, The very winkle of your country in his shelly lair. 1899 Whiteing No. 5 John St. vii. 60 A typical family..lives before the public on a nutriment of winkles and gin. |
| attrib. 1845 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 256 The 'winklemen were on the mud all day. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 39 Winkle Gatherer. 1903 Times 13 Aug. 13/2 A shilling used to be charged for a winkle license, which lasted during the winkle season. |
2. slang (chiefly juveniles'). The penis (of a young boy).
| 1951 Partridge Dict. Slang Add. 1223/2 Winkle, n., penis: children's, (young) schoolboys': late C. 19–20. 1970 Guardian 3 Feb. 8, I was mildly troubled by the insistence, especially of one headmaster, on the ‘proper names for things’. Penis is right and winkle is wrong. 1970 T. Hughes Crow 63 O do not chop his winkle off His Mammy cried. 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 78 ‘Thanks,’ he said to his (new) witch-like girlfriend as she handed him a joint so ill-made that it resembled a baby's winkle. |
3. Comb., as winkle-picker slang, a shoe with a long pointed toe; winkle-pin Mil. slang = bayonet 2.
| 1960 Spectator 15 Apr. 553 The incredibly pointed custom-built shoes in which teenagers keep other teenagers at arm's length... The shoes, called winklepickers, look like something out of Grimm's fairy tales. 1960 News Chron. 13 Sept. 5/3 The ‘winkle picker’ high heels and the high spirits have gone. 1978 C. Sykes in R. Buckle U & Non-U Revisited 57 The mass-produced variety, popularly known as ‘winkle-pickers’, were very ugly. 1980 Bulletin (Sydney) 6 May 5/3, I had the hairdo, the lairy shirt, the winkle-picker shoes. |
| 1924 Kipling Debits & Credits (1926) 314 As his sergeant I had to check him for misusin' his winkle-pin on dirt. 1950 Partridge Here, There & Everywhere 62 The bayonet..has many names..[e.g.] winkle-pin. |
Hence ˈwinkling gerund.
| 1898 Punch 20 Aug. 77/2 D'year as 'ow old Bob Osborne 'ave give up Shrimpin' an took ter Winklin'? |
▪ II. winkle, v.1 dial.
(ˈwɪŋk(ə)l)
[f. wink v.1 + -le 3.]
intr. To emit light intermittently; to twinkle.
| 1791 J. Learmont Poems 37 In vain the starry winkling gleam. 1807 Hogg Mountain Bard 63 What though she has twa little winkling een? They're better than nane. 1905 M. Barnes-Grundy Vacil. Hazel 198 The stars and planets twinkled and winkled, and sparkled and glittered. |
▪ III. winkle, v.2 colloq. (orig. Mil. slang).
[f. winkle n.]
trans. to winkle out: to extract or eject (as a winkle from its shell with a pin); to draw forth, find out or elicit.
| [1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 306 Winkle, to, to capture individual prisoners by stealth... Also,..to steal.] 1942 ‘M. Home’ House of Shade ii. 20 What's winkled you out at this goddam hour? 1943 People 31 Oct. 1/7 Methodically winkling the Germans out of their strongpoints. 1951 ‘M. Innes’ Operation Pax v. vi. 220 Until we winkle out this young man..you and I make not a bad team. 1958 J. Press Chequer'd Shade 4 It is illegitimate to compare the far-fetched conjectures of Eliot's commentators with the inside information which we might have winkled out of Donne. 1966 Listener 20 Jan. 111/3 It's the cunning of the interviewer that counts most of all, and certainly Mr. Muggeridge manages to winkle out some interesting bits and pieces. 1970 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 17 May 14/1 He could winkle out sin where no other man dreamed it existed. 1976 A. Eden Another World vii. 79 Hart's skills were in a sense wasted upon us, and he was at length winkled out to the advantage of a base hospital. |
Add: 2. intr. to winkle one's way, to proceed by picking one's steps cautiously; hence, to worm one's way or insinuate oneself.
| 1979 K. M. Peyton Marion's Angels i. 18 The conductor was returning, followed by Pennington, who winkled his way to the Steinway round the delphiniums. 1989 Amer. Speech LXIV. 260 Is it true that new words winkle their way into English at a fixed rate of 3000 each lustrum? 1991 Washington Times 4 Jan. b2/4 It is a talk show in the sense that he accepts calls, but these are finely screened. Rush is wary of those who winkle their way past the screener by pretending to be a Ditto. |