Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun plural An Australian contrivance much used in the bush for moving heavy logs and trunks of trees.
  • noun One who moves about or dodges quickly; one who is nimble and sportive.

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

  • noun a high wheeled truck designed to carry lumber suspended under the body of the vehicle.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word jinker.

Examples

  • This morning they climbed the same ladder to the same jinker platform, but this time Ada gestured him ahead, only smiling at his gentlemanly protests that she go first, the smile suggesting some vixen memory of the event he had thought had gone unnoticed by her at the time.

    Ilium Simmons, Dan 1981

  • Ardis Hall was a tall manor and the jinker platform, its mahogany planks still gleaming, thrust out between gables to an overhang sixty feet above the gravel drive where voynix stood like rusted upright scarabs.

    Ilium Simmons, Dan 1981

  • They came to the jinker with the grey standing in the shafts; she went to untie the reins.

    On The Beach Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1957

  • They got up into the jinker and drove through the empty streets to the hotel.

    On The Beach Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1957

  • Molly Healy, who was preparing to drive home in Father Healy's jinker, cried out:

    Grey Town An Australian Story Gerald Baldwin

  • They got up into the jinker and drove through the empty streets to the hotel.

    On The Beach Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1936

  • They came to the jinker with the grey standing in the shafts; she went to untie the reins.

    On The Beach Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1936

  • The road to Cunjee was usually bare of much traffic, but on the one race day of the year an amazing number of vehicles were dotted along it, light buggies, farm wagonettes, spring carts and the universal two-wheeled jinker, all crammed with farmers and settlers and their families.

    Back to Billabong Mary Grant Bruce 1918

  • More than one candidate for a race appeared on the course drawing a jinker; and, being released from the shafts, was being vigorously groomed by his shirt-sleeved owner.

    Back to Billabong Mary Grant Bruce 1918

  • Jinker, dodger (coquette); a jinker noble; a noble goer.

    Glossary 1909

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "I went to fishing but they called me Squally Quoyle. See, I was a jinker, carried bad winds with me. I 'ad no luck. None of the Quoyles 'ad no luck." --Nolan Quoyle in The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx

    Jinker, from jink, 'to play tricks; to frolic.' Hence jinker (Newfoundland: an unlucky fellow); jinx. "A person (on a vessel) bringing bad luck; a Jonah. 1924 England 220 Jinkers are common enough; men who always carry bad winds and weather with them. Such men usually acquire nicknames like 'Foggy Bill,' 'Heavy-weather Jack,' or 'Squally Jim.' ... 1933 Greene 170 There is a 'jinx' on the ship, or a 'jinker' aboard; and then the hands may settle that this jinker is some unfortunate who has a cast in his eye, or who was born with 'foxy-coloured' hair, or a stammer—anything of the most foolish. But, foolish or not, Heaven help the miserable one on whom they may decide as the guilty one. His life will be a burden to him till the seals are struck or the Voyage is over—for all sorts of tricks, painful and otherwise, will be played on him when either sleeping or waking." --Dictionary of Newfoundland English, 2nd ed.

    December 31, 2007