clink

¹

[ klingk ]

verb (used with or without object)

1. to make or cause to make a light, sharp, ringing sound:

   The coins clinked together. He clinked the fork against a glass.

noun

1. a clinking sound.
2. Metallurgy. a small crack in a steel ingot resulting from uneven expanding or contracting.
3. a pointed steel bar for breaking up road surfaces.
4. Archaic. a rhyme; jingle.

clink

²

[ klingk ]

noun

, Slang.

1. a prison; jail; lockup.

clink

¹

/ klɪŋk /

noun

1. a slang word for prison

clink

²

/ klɪŋk /

verb

1. to make or cause to make a light and sharply ringing sound

noun

1. a light and sharply ringing sound
2. a pointed steel tool used for breaking up the surface of a road before it is repaired

Word History and Origins

Origin of clink¹

1275–1325; Middle English clinken, perhaps < Middle Dutch clinken to sound, ring, resound

Origin of clink²

1505–15; after Clink, name of prison in Southwark, London, perhaps < Dutch klink door-latch

Word History and Origins

Origin of clink¹

C16: after Clink, name of a prison in Southwark, London

Origin of clink²

C14: perhaps from Middle Dutch klinken; related to Old Low German chlanch, German Klang sound

Example Sentences

I’m in a dimly lit steakhouse with a crowd of fellow diners around me, their voices and the clinks of glassware harmonizing into a convivial hum, no masks to be seen or six feet of social distance observed.

From Washington Post

You can clink your wine glass and deliver an impassioned speech about conquering the demons that kept you confined in the closet.

From The Daily Beast

Sannikov and the other opposition candidates are arrested and thrown in the clink, along with thousands of ordinary citizens.

From The Daily Beast

The penalty was what Kozlovsky alluded to without knowledge of its origin: 15 days in the clink, plus a fine.

From The Daily Beast

All day long the place rings with the clink of hammers and the clang of metal bars.

From The Daily Beast

Try to remember that name as you curse him out on your way to the clink.

From The Daily Beast

The clink of the stone-masons' chisels had resounded year after year from morning till night.

From Project Gutenberg

When a man's in clink, his nag gets nothing but mild exercise till his rightful rider gets out.

From Project Gutenberg

Fragment, apparently from a columnar mass, of a stone intermediate between clink-stone and compact felspar.

From Project Gutenberg

The north of Blue-Mud Bay has furnished also specimens of ancient sandstone; with columnar rocks, probably of clink-stone.

From Project Gutenberg

I have now sent three letters to the tenant, one Clink, by teamsters, and he has never replied.

From Project Gutenberg