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pink

nounadjectiveverbnounnounverbnounverbverbadjectivenouncommon in dialogue

  • United States//ˈpɪŋk//
  • United States/[ˈpʰɪŋk]/
  • //ˈpiŋk//
  • /[ˈpʰiŋk]/

A color reminiscent of pinks, the flowers.

noun

  1. 1

    A color reminiscent of pinks, the flowers.

    My new dress is a wonderful shade of pink.

    Jasper couldn't have known they'd been overheard upstairs, but his little smirk coming and going invited you to guess he'd been up to something. He had the pink of sex about him still.

    Both halves feature lyrics that are so teen-girly they sound like they were written in pink ink in a padlocked diary with hearts and frowny faces for punctuation.

  2. 2

    A color reminiscent of pinks, the flowers. Magenta, the colour evoked by red and blue light when combined.

  3. 3

    A color reminiscent of pinks, the flowers. Pale red.

  4. 4

    Any of various flowers of that colour in the genus Dianthus, sometimes called carnations.

    This garden in particular has a beautiful bed of pinks.

  5. 5

    datedA perfect example; excellence, perfection; the embodiment of some quality.

    Your hat, madam, is the very pink of fashion.

    Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy.

  6. 6

    Hunting pink; scarlet, as worn by hunters.

    I had taken it for granted that there would be people ‘in pink’, but these enormous confident strangers overwhelmed me with the visible authenticity of their brick-red coats.

    it is interesting to note the curious legend that the pink of the hunting field is not due to any optical advantage but to an entirely different reason.

  7. 7

    A huntsman.

    The pinks stand about the inn-door lighting cigars and waiting to see us start, while their hacks are led up and down the market-place, on which the inn looks.

  8. 8

    One of the colour balls used in snooker, coloured pink, with a value of 6 points.

    Oh dear, he's left himself snookered behind the pink.

  9. 9

    slangAn unlettered and uncultured, but relatively prosperous, member of the middle classes; compare Babbitt, bourgeoisie.

  10. 10

    slangThe vagina or vulva.

    Then Eddie did what he calls, 'Two in the pink, one in the stink.' “I held up my right forefinger and middle finger and said, “Two.” Then I held up my ring finger and said “One. Two in the pussy, one in the ass.”

  11. 11

    Variant of pinkoAlternative form of pinko.

    My own guess is that there are some pinks in the State Department and in other government departments and agencies, and of course they should be found and ousted; but it seems to me that this can be done without besmirching innocent people and without making such broadside charges that people will lose faith in all government.

Etymology

Origin uncertain; perhaps from Dutch pinken (“to blink”) or the English verb pink from the same source. Perhaps from the notion of the petals being pinked. An earlier word for similar flesh-like colors, mostly displaced by pink, was incarnation ([1300s]; see Etymonline) and carnation.

adjective

  1. 1

    Having a colour between red and white; pale red.

  2. 2

    Of a fox-hunter's jacket: scarlet.

  3. 3

    Having conjunctivitis.

  4. 4

    By comparison to red (communist), supportive of socialist ideas but not actually socialist or communist.

    The word "socialist" has so many connotations that it can cover almost anything from pink liberalism to red-red communism.

  5. 5

    informalRelating to women or girls.

    pink-collar

    pink job

  6. 6

    informalRelating to homosexuals as a group within society.

    the pink economy

    pink pound

    pink dollar

    pink triangle

verb

  1. 1

    To become pink in color, to redden.

    The woman’s pale skin pinked as she shook her head. “No. It’s out of my budget. Come on, Sammy”

  2. 2

    To turn (something) pink.

    They are all nearly nude, pinked and bronzed by the sun.

    The rabbits, still lining the roadside, but now pinked by dawn, craned their necks to follow her departure.

  3. 3

    To turn (a topaz or other gemstone) pink by the application of heat.

    Because heating is relatively easy to perform once one is trained to do it, it can be assumed that any pink topaz from Brazil, the gem’s main modern producer, is colored more by man than nature.[…] Relatively few stones from Brazil have this trace element in enough quantity for what dealers call “pinking.”

noun

  1. 1

    A common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus0.

  2. 2

    A young Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, before it becomes a smolt; a parr.

Etymology

Unknown. Some lexicographers suggest comparison to regional German Pinke (“minnow; small salmon”), but this is not widely accepted.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA narrow boat.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Dutch pincke. Compare French pinque.

verb

  1. 1

    To decorate a piece of clothing or fabric by adding holes or by scalloping the fringe.

  2. 2

    To prick with a sword.

    ‘Pugh!’ says she, ‘you have pinked a man in a duel, that's all.’

    Within three seconds D'Artagnan pinked him thrice, dedicating each thrust as he dealt it. “One for Athos!" he cried. “One for Porthos!" and at the last, “one for Aramis!”

  3. 3

    To wound by irony, criticism, or ridicule.

    “Young man, if you have no authority, let me speak to someone who has! Put me through to Mr. Berquist.” The stooge suddenly lost his smile and Jubal thought gleefully that he had at last pinked him.

Etymology

Probably ultimately imitative, or from Dutch pingelen (“to do fine needlework”) or Low German [Term?]; compare Low German pinken (“hit, peck”) and Pinke (“big needle”).

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA small hole made by puncturing something, as with a rapier, dagger, or pinking iron. A small hole or puncture made by a sharp, slender instrument such as a rapier, poniard or dagger, or (by extension) a bullet; a stab.

    At a great word she will her poynard draw, Looke for the pincke if once thou giue the lye.

    A freebooter’s pink, sir, three or four inches deep.

    The fellow's a shrewd fellow at a pink.

    He is spotted with marks of stabs and revolver 'pinks', and he takes all his wounds quite as matter of course.

  2. 2

    obsoleteA small hole made by puncturing something, as with a rapier, dagger, or pinking iron. A small hole or eyelet punched in a garment for decoration, as with a pinking iron; a scallop.

    Item,..for iiil* powdringis and pinkis to the sam goune, .xij s

    small pinks, cuts or iagges in clothes

    Is this pinke of equall proportion to this cut?

    You had rather have / An ulcer in your body than a pink / More in your clothes.

verb

  1. 1

    Of a motor car, to emit a high "pinking" noise, usually as a result of ill-set ignition timing for the fuel used (in a spark ignition engine).

  2. 2

    Of a musical instrument, to sound a very high-pitched, short note.

    And then the record changed, a piano pinking high a Poulenc-like theme.

Etymology

Onomatopoeic. Compare ping.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo wink; to blink.

    A Hungry Fox that had got a Cock in his Eye, and could not tell how to come at him ; cast himself at his Length upon the Ground, and there he lay winking and pinking as if he had Sore Eyes.

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch pinken.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleteHalf-shut; winking.

    Come, thou monarch of the vine, Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne! In thy vats our cares be drowned, With thy grapes our hairs be crowned.

noun

  1. 1

    historicalAny of various lake pigments or dyes in yellow, yellowish green or brown shades, made with plant coloring and a metallic oxide base.

    To make Dutch pink, boil the stems of woad in a solution of alum, and then mix the liquor with clay, marl, or chalk, which will become mixed with the colour of the decoction

    Carlyle (2001) lists from her study of nineteenth century British documentary sources yellow carmine, Dutch pink, English pink and yellow lake in descending order of intensity.

Etymology

Unknown. Attested from the late 15th century.

Forms

plural
pinks
comparative
pinker
superlative
pinkest
past tense
pinked
past participle
pinked
present participle
pinking
third person singular
pinks
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).