▪ I. twinkling, vbl. n.1
(ˈtwɪŋklɪŋ)
[f. twinkle v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of twinkle v.1
1. The action of shining with tremulous or faint radiance; scintillation; † glimmering. Also transf. and fig.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xxxvii. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 174 b/2 In twinkelinge and in liȝt [electrum] schyneþ more clere þan oþer metal. 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. Theatr. Chem. Brit. (1652) 64 Twinckling and glittering as in Magnetia is. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 8 Many men do make a difference of them by twinkelinge, affirming that the Fixed starres doo twinkle, and not the Planetes. 1635 Swan Spec. M. vii. §3 (1643) 325 The twinkling of the starres is the vibration or trembling of their light. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 36 There is only a dim twinkling of twilight for an hour or two in the middle of the day. 1806 Wordsw. Sonn., To Sleep, O gentle Sleep! do they belong to thee, These twinklings of oblivion? 1815 Scott Guy M. xxvi, These [salmon] the party in the boat detected by the slightest indications; the twinkling of a fin, the rising of an air-bell. 1853 Herschel Pop. Lect. Sc. vii. §117 (1873) 336 The twinkling or scintillation of the stars partakes..of the nature of a phænomenon of diffraction. 1879 Butcher & Lang Odyssey viii. 123 Odysseus gazed at the twinklings of the feet. |
2. The action or an act of winking; nictitation; also fig. Obs. exc. as in 3.
| a 1300 in Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. (E.E.T.S.) 519/1 Þoruȝ twinklingues of heore eyȝen Heore soules beon alle for lore. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. xv. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 111 b/2 Liȝtnynge..comeþ oute of his moder as þe twinkelinge of an yȝe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 505/2 Twynkelynge, of the eye, conniventia. 1530 Palsgr. 283/2 Twynclyng of an eye, cilement, clin doeil. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxii. x, An ague..accompanied with head-ach and much twinkling or inordinat palpitation of the eyes. 1609 Bible (Douay) Isa. iii. 16 The daughters of Sion..have walked with stretched out necke, and went with twinglings of eies. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 458 Being euery second or third day attended with the twinckling of an eye, and my sustenance agreeable to my attendance, my body grew exceeding debile and infirme. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. Disc. ix. 122 The first motions,..the twincklings of the eye as the Philosophers call them. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 145 The Eyes in squinting, the Eye-lids in twinkling. 1800 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) I. 252 He can extricate himself by the twinkling of an eye if he wishes it. 1822–7 Good Study Med. (1829) IV. 462 Twinkling or winking of the eyes is performed every minute without our thinking of it. |
3. The time taken in winking the eye; a very brief period; a moment, an instant. Chiefly in phrases: see b, c, d.
| 1303 [see b.]. c 1374 Chaucer Compl. Mars 222 Her Ioy..Ne lasteth not the twynkelyng of an eye. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxix. [xxx.] 5 His wrath endureth but the twincklinge of an eye. 1557 Traheron Expos. John i. H j b, He shewed not him selfe the twinckling of an eye, and so vanished awaie. 1644 Digby Nat. Soul ix. §10. 421 He scorneth for this litle twinckling of his life, to take any present paines..to auoyde being ill. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. ii. 114, I will never quit thee for the twinkling of an eye. |
b. in the twinkling of an eye, in an instant; formerly also † in (a), with (a or the) twinkling of an eye (in quot. 1390 twinkling of a look) (obs.).
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9179 Yn twynkelyng of an ye, Yn-to þe cherche gun þey flye. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xxxvii. 106 In a twynglyng of an eȝe. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxii. 19 In þe twinkeling of an eigh þai fal downe. a 1380 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. (E.E.T.S.) 673 Wiþ a twynklyng of an eiȝe. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 144 In a twinklinge of a lok His mannes forme aȝein he tok. 1483 Caxton Cato E v b, In the twynklyng of an eye. c 1489 ― Sonnes of Aymon xxviii. 588 The corps..was broughte in to the carte agayne wyth the twynkeling of an eye. 1508 Dunbar Gold. Targe 235 In twynkling of ane eye to schip thai went. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 27 With twingling [v.r. twinkling] of ane eye anone, God sall the tak. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. (1903) IV. 250 In the very twinckling of an eye, both shippe and men were all cast away. 1792 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 11 This clergy would lose,..in the twinkling of an eye, the little remains of influence which they yet retain. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. II. iv. 52 A book, a picture, a memory, puts us, in the twinkling of an eye, in the midst of the most enchanting solitudes. 1904 Times 7 Sept. 7/4 Events..transformed Japan..in the twinkling of an eye..into a modern State. |
c. in a twinkling († at a twinkling, in the twinkling).
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 22 At a twinckling thee swelling surges he calmed. 1609 Ev. Woman in Hum. i. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Heere and there in the twinckling. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. v. v, An old Hargubuzier..Could prime his poulder, and give fire and hit, All in a twinckling. 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode ii. i, I'll..be with you again in a twinkling. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 151 The liquor was out of sight in a twinkling. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. xiii. (1824) 224 The stoutest line-of-battle ship..may be..decomposed in a twinkling. 1883 E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 182 In a twinkling the pack is half a field away. |
d. With (usually humorous) substitution: see quots.
| 1660, 1676 [see bedstaff]. 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 40 (1713) II. 9 This Letter would alone have done it in the twinkling of a Broomstick. 1695 Congreve Love for L. ii. v, I have known an astrologer made a cuckold in the twinkling of a star. a 1704 T. Brown Declam. Adverts Wks. 1730 I. 40 All Thessaly had in the twinkling of a Shoeing-horn been certainly undermin'd by Lobsters. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 57. 2/2 I'll do it in the twinkling of a Bedstaff. 1819 Blackw. Mag. V. 718 He went off in the twinkling of a bed post. 1821 Ibid. IX. 134 In the twinkling of a fan. 1853 Reade Peg Woff. iv. 106 You can..master a play in the twinkling of a tea-cup. |
4. attrib.
| c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 68 In a twinkling trice To goe to work. |
▪ II. twinkling, vbl. n.2
see twinkle v.2
▪ III. twinkling, ppl. a.
(ˈtwɪŋklɪŋ)
[f. twinkle v.1 + -ing2.]
That twinkles.
1. Shining tremulously (or † faintly); sparkling, scintillating; † glimmering; flickering (obs.).
| 1508 Dunbar Gold. Targe 31 All the lake as lamp did leme of licht, Quhilk schadovit all about wyth twynkling glemis. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iii. 58 Browis brent and twinkland Cristell eine. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vi. 9 At first I did adore a twinkling Starre. 1683 Norris Poems (ed. Grosart) 58 Some twinkling stars give feeble light. 1765 Beattie Judgm. Paris cxvi, Till the morn Spangle with twinkling dew the flowery waste. 1821–30 Ld. Cockburn Mem. iv. (1874) 191 A bulky man with..twinkling eyes. 1829 Scott Anne of G. xviii, The windows exhibited here and there a twinkling gleam. |
2. transf. Appearing and disappearing with rapid alternation; producing an effect as of tremulous light by rapid vibratory movement; tremulous, fluttering, quivering. Also fig.
| 1616 Capt. Smith Descr. New Eng. 29 The twinkling mountaine of Aucociso. 1791 Cowper Odyss. viii. 324 Ulysses wonder-fixt, The ceaseless play of twinkling feet admired. 1814 Southey Roderick xvi. 11 The lark..On twinkling pinions poised. 1816 Chalmers Let. in Life (1851) II. 41 We were looking back on the twinkling rapidity of the months and the weeks which have already gone. 1889 Gregory Smith Fra Angelico, etc. (ed. 2) 90 The little twinkling feet which sped so fast and free. |
† 3. Winking, blinking. Obs.
| 1740 Somerville Hobbinol iii. 201 To point the holy Leer, by just Degrees To close the twingling Eye. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 332, I often endeavoured, by a twinkling Motion, to disperse the gathering Water, before it had formed itself into Drops too big to be restrained. |
4. Comb., as twinkling-eyed, twinkling-footed adjs.
| 1871 Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 308 Devotees of the twinkling-footed burlesque..living the life of strolling players. 1904 Daily Chron. 13 July 8/2 A sunburnt, healthy-looking twinkling-eyed scamp of thirteen years. |
Hence ˈtwinklingly adv., in a twinkling manner.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. ii. 143 They shewed it..twincklingly shining a farre of. 1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 528 This Authority of the Pope in England twinklingly went out and in again. 1850 Chamb. Jrnl. XIV. 16 The glittering grains..leapt twinklingly. |