Library / English Dictionary

CLINK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)

Synonyms:

clink; gaol; jail; jailhouse; pokey; poky; slammer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("clink" is a kind of...):

correctional institution (a penal institution maintained by the government)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clink"):

bastille (a jail or prison (especially one that is run in a tyrannical manner))

holding cell (a jail in a courthouse where accused persons can be confined during a trial)

hoosegow; hoosgow (slang for a jail)

house of correction ((formerly) a jail or other place of detention for persons convicted of minor offences)

lockup (jail in a local police station)

workhouse (a county jail that holds prisoners for periods up to 18 months)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A short light metallic sound

Synonyms:

chink; click; clink

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("clink" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Derivation:

clink (make or emit a high sound)

clink (make a high sound typical of glass)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make or emit a high sound

Example:

tinkling bells

Synonyms:

chink; clink; tink; tinkle

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "clink" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

clink (a short light metallic sound)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a high sound typical of glass

Example:

champagne glasses clinked to make a toast

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "clink" is one way to...):

sound (cause to sound)

Cause:

chink; clink; tink; tinkle (make or emit a high sound)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

clink (a short light metallic sound)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes’ hunting crop came down on the man’s wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the mingled reality and mystery of the whole show, the influence upon me of the poetry, the lights, the music, the company, the smooth stupendous changes of glittering and brilliant scenery, were so dazzling, and opened up such illimitable regions of delight, that when I came out into the rainy street, at twelve o'clock at night, I felt as if I had come from the clouds, where I had been leading a romantic life for ages, to a bawling, splashing, link-lighted, umbrella-struggling, hackney-coach-jostling, patten-clinking, muddy, miserable world.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He would strike once with his thirty-pound swing sledge, and Jim twice with his hand hammer; and the Clunk—clink, clink! clunk—clink, clink! would bring me flying down the village street, on the chance that, since they were both at the anvil, there might be a place for me at the bellows.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then came the sharp clink of clashing steel, and a roar like that of an angry lion—“Notre Dame Du Guesclin! St. Ives! St. Ives!”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He put his two forefingers between his teeth and whistled shrilly—a signal which was answered by a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle of wheels and the clink of horses’ hoofs.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The words were scarce out of his mouth when there came a clatter of loose stones, the sharp clink of trotting hoofs, and a dark-faced cavalier, mounted upon a white horse, burst through the bushes and rode swiftly down the valley from the end which was farthest from the Spanish camp.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The clink of crossing sword-blades, the dull thudding of heavy blows, the panting and gasping of weary and wounded men, all rose together in a wild, long-drawn note, which swelled upwards to the ears of the wondering peasants who looked down from the edges of the cliffs upon the swaying turmoil of the battle beneath them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Clatter of hoofs, clinking of weapons, shouts from the drunken brawlers, and high laughter of women, they all rose up, like the mist from a marsh, out of the crowded streets of the dim-lit city.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)