Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To make a quick, evasive turn.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a vehicle or an aircraft, for example) to make a quick, evasive turn.
  • noun A quick, evasive turn.
  • noun Rambunctious play; frolic.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To jingle; chink: as, the money jinked.
  • noun A quick illusory turn; the act of eluding another.
  • noun In the card-games of spoil-five and forty-five, the winning of all the tricks in a hand by one side.
  • To move nimbly.
  • To make a quick turn; dodge; elude a person by dodging; escape.
  • In the card-games of spoil-five and forty-five, to win the game by winning all the tricks in one hand.
  • To elude; dodge.
  • To cheat; trick.
  • noun The sharp jingle of coins; hence, coin itself; chink.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To move quickly, esp. with a sudden turn; hence, to dodge; to escape by a quick turn; -- obs. or dial., except as a hunting term in pig-sticking.
  • intransitive verb (Card Playing) In the games of spoilfive and forty-five, to win the game by taking all five tricks; also, to play to win all five tricks, losing what has been already won if unsuccessful.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A quick evasive turn.
  • verb intransitive To make a quick evasive turn.
  • verb transitive To cause a vehicle to make a quick evasive turn.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

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Examples

  • At this point, the reader/listener is able to escape into the wonderful world of imagination and follow Jack and his sister, Marie on their "think-a-ma-jink" adventures.

    Members 2010

  • At this point, the reader/listener is able to escape into the wonderful world of imagination and follow Jack and his sister, Marie on their "think-a-ma-jink" adventures.

    Reviews 2010

  • McGeady was again at the heart of the move, his jink and shot forcing the goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko to parry.

    Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland | Euro 2012 play-off match report 2011

  • Delap has picked up a booking for a foul in the build-up.80 mins Excellent challenge from Shawcross inside the box, as Aston Villa break rapidly from a Stoke corner –Delfouneso feeding Albrighton down by the corner of the six-yard area and the latter looking to jink his way past the defender but finding the ball pinched off his toes as he skips down towards the goalline.

    Stoke v Aston Villa - as it happened | Paolo Bandini 2011

  • At this point, the reader/listener is able to escape into the wonderful world of imagination and follow Jack and his sister, Marie on their "think-a-ma-jink" adventures.

    Literacy 2010

  • At this point, the reader/listener is able to escape into the wonderful world of imagination and follow Jack and his sister, Marie on their "think-a-ma-jink" adventures.

    Books 2010

  • Then Starks on a screen does wonderfully well to jink and jive for the first down at the half way line.

    New York Giants 37 Green Bay Packers 20 - as it happened | Steve Busfield 2012

  • But you trusted entirely these rare moments of triumphant self-expression: every jink and turn by Diego Maradona at the 1986 World Cup was hard-won, brutally paid for and born out of absolute courage and commitment.

    World Cup 2010: How a love of Spain can make for a sterile affair 2010

  • Irish wing-jink disappointment Aiden McGeady wants to leave Celtic.

    Football transfer rumours: Liverpool's Fernando Torres to stay or go? 2010

  • “I keep thinking to myself, shall I jink a little,” says the prematurely aged protagonist.

    Storyteller Donald Sturrock 2010

Comments

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  • “As he dived in on the target in his A-4, his surface-to-air missile warning system sounded: A SAM had a lock on him. ‘I knew I should roll out and fly evasive maneuvers,’ McCain writes. ‘The A-4 is a small, fast’ aircraft that ‘can outmaneuver a tracking SAM.’

    But McCain didn't ‘jink.’ Instead, he stayed on target and let fly his bombs — just as the SAM blew his wing off.�?

    Rolling Stone, Make-Believe Maverick, by Tim Dickinson, October 6, 2008

    October 7, 2008

  • (verb) - To trick; to give the jink, to elude . . . John Jamieson derives the word from the Swedish dwink-a and the German schwinken, to move quickly.

    --Charles Mackay's Dictionary of Lowland Scotch, 1888

    January 15, 2018