sinker

American  

[sing-ker] / ˈsɪŋ kər /

noun

1. a person or thing that sinks.

2. a person employed in sinking, as one who sinks shafts.

3. a weight, as of lead, for sinking a fishing line or net below the surface of the water.

4. Slang. a doughnut or, sometimes, a biscuit or muffin.

5. Also called sinkerball.  Baseball. a fastball that curves downward sharply as it reaches the plate.

6. diesinker.

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sinker British  

/ ˈsɪŋkə /

noun

1. a weight attached to a fishing line, net, etc, to cause it to sink in water

2. a person who sinks shafts, etc

3. an informal word for doughnut

4. See hook

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sinker Idioms  

1. see hook, line, and sinker.

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Other Word Forms

• sinkerless adjective

Etymology

Origin of sinker

First recorded in 1520–30; 1870–75 in the sense “doughnut“; 1930–35 in the baseball sense; sink + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Fall for the rules, hook, line, and sinker!

From Literature

All four guards snapped to attention at my words and took off at a full sprint toward my house, yelling commands into their communicators as they took my story hook, line, and sinker.

From Literature

Gandy found the juicy tidbit and swallowed it—worm, hook, line, sinker, and all.

From Literature

Yamamoto reached into his five-pitch repertoire Saturday, mixing in six fastballs, eight splitters, five sinkers, four cutters, four curveballs and three sliders.

From Los Angeles Times

I am a believer that you should not take the sentiment data hook, line, and sinker because we know that what a consumer says and what they do can sometimes be different things.

From Barron's

Related Words

• bun
• pastry