Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To produce or emit a fine, sharp, jingling sound, as of a small metallic body striking upon a larger one; make a tinkling noise.
  • To mend as a tinker.
  • noun A tinking or tinkling sound.

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

  • intransitive verb To make a sharp, shrill noise; to tinkle.
  • noun A sharp, quick sound; a tinkle.

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

  • verb knitting, slang, transitive To unknit.
  • verb To emit a high-pitched noise.
  • noun dated A sharp, quick sound; a tinkle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make or emit a high sound

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

knit spelled backwards.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Imitative.

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Examples

  • The tip landed in the middle of his bony chest and skated over each rib, going * tink, tink, tink* through the handle, like

    Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town Cory Doctorow

  • In Singaporean English (known as Singlish), think is pronounced "tink," and theories is "tee-oh-rees."

    How English Is Evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand By Michael Erard 2008

  • Lovers stroll by on dirt paths; metal petanque balls "tink" against each other nearby.

    Allez Hoop At The World's Court 2007

  • At one school, for example, state auditors complained that teachers pronounced "words such as violet as 'biolet,' think as 'tink' and swallow the ending sounds of words, as they sometimes do in Spanish."

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • At one school, for example, state auditors complained that teachers pronounced "words such as violet as 'biolet,' think as 'tink' and swallow the ending sounds of words, as they sometimes do in Spanish."

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • Reports from state auditors say some teachers pronounce words such as think as "tink" and violet as "biolet" and leave off the ending sounds of words, saying "doin" instead of "doing."

    azcentral.com | news 2010

  • Listen for the "tink" of hitting the rail telling me I'm getting close.

    Snowflakes in Hell 2009

  • The pedal now clunked againsed the chain guard, and made a nice rythmic "tink" with each revolution.

    TravelPod.com Recent Updates 2009

  • They found the noise generated by the titanium clubs hitting a golf ball is far louder than the "tink" of the steel club making a shot.

    Latest News - UPI.com 2009

  • While the steel clubs produced the agreeable 'tink' of a well-hit shot, the titanium ones were much louder, described by some as similar to a gun being fired.

    GeoffShackelford.com 2009

Comments

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  • Jamaican slang for 'think'.

    November 6, 2010

  • Also a knitting term meaning to undo a knitting project one stitch at a time, as opposed to "frogging" which undoes many stitches at a time. Origin: "knit" spelled backwards.

    December 2, 2010