Adjacent Words

Chink definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHINK, n. A small aperture lengthwise; a cleft, rent, or fissure, of greater length than breadth; a gap or crack; as the chinks of a wall.
CHINK, v.i. To crack; to open.
CHINK, v.t. To open or part and form a fissure.
CHINK, v.t. [See Jingle.] To cause to sound by shaking coins or small pieces of metal, or by bringing small sonorous bodies in collision; as, to chink a purse of money.
CHINK, v.i. To make a small sharp sound, as by the collision of little pieces of money, or other sonorous bodies.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (ethnic slur) offensive term for a person of Chinese descent [syn: chink, Chinaman]
2: a narrow opening as e.g. between planks in a wall
3: a short light metallic sound [syn: chink, click, clink] v
1: make or emit a high sound; "tinkling bells" [syn: tinkle, tink, clink, chink]
2: fill the chinks of, as with caulking
3: make cracks or chinks in; "The heat checked the paint" [syn: check, chink]

Merriam Webster's

noun or adjective Etymology: perhaps alteration of Chinese Date: 1887 usually offensive Chinese

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: probably alteration of Middle English chine crack, fissure Date: 1535 1. a small cleft, slit, or fissure <a chink in the fence> 2. a weak spot that may leave one vulnerable <his lawyers found a chink in the law> 3. a narrow beam of light shining through a chink II. transitive verb Date: 1609 to fill the chinks of (as by caulking) <chink a log cabin> III. noun Etymology: imitative Date: 1573 1. archaic coin, money 2. a short sharp sound IV. verb Date: 1589 intransitive verb to make a slight sharp metallic sound transitive verb to cause to make a chink

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 an unintended crack that admits light or allows an attack. 2 a narrow opening; a slit. Etymology: 16th c.: rel. to CHINE(2) 2. v. & n. --v. 1 intr. make a slight ringing sound, as of glasses or coins striking together. 2 tr. cause to make this sound. --n. this sound. Etymology: imit.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. sl. offens. a Chinese. Derivatives: Chinky adj. Etymology: abbr.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chink Chink, n. [OE. chine, AS. c[=i]ne fissure, chink, fr. c[=i]nan to gape; akin to Goth. Keinan to sprout, G. keimen. Cf. Chit.] A small cleft, rent, or fissure, of greater length than breadth; a gap or crack; as, the chinks of wall. Through one cloudless chink, in a black, stormy sky. Shines out the dewy morning star. --Macaulay.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chink Chink, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Chinked; p. pr. & vb. n. Chinking.] To crack; to open.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chink Chink, v. t. 1. To cause to open in cracks or fissures. 2. To fill up the chinks of; as, to chink a wall.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chink Chink, n. [Of imitative origin. Cf. Jingle.] 1. A short, sharp sound, as of metal struck with a slight degree of violence. ``Chink of bell.'' --Cowper. 2. Money; cash. [Cant] ``To leave his chink to better hands.'' --Somerville.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chink Chink, v. t. To cause to make a sharp metallic sound, as coins, small pieces of metal, etc., by bringing them into collision with each other. --Pope.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chink Chink, v. i. To make a slight, sharp, metallic sound, as by the collision of little pieces of money, or other small sonorous bodies. --Arbuthnot.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(chinks) 1. A chink in a surface is a very narrow crack or opening in it. ...a chink in the wall... He peered through a chink in the curtains. N-COUNT: usu N in n 2. A chink of light is a small patch of light that shines through a small opening in something. I noticed a chink of light at the end of the corridor. N-COUNT: N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Opening, gap, crack, cranny, crevice, cleft, rift, fissure, narrow aperture. II. v. a., v. n. Jingle, clink, ring.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Money.

Moby Thesaurus

abysm, abyss, aperture, arroyo, assailability, bar, bezel, bind, block, block up, blockade, box canyon, breach, break, broach, bump, bung, canyon, cash, caulk, cavity, chamfer, change ringing, chap, chase, chasm, check, chime, chiming, chimney, choke, choke off, choke up, clang, clanging, clangor, clank, clanking, cleave, cleft, cleuch, click, clink, clog, clog up, clop, clough, clump, clunk, coin, col, congest, constipate, cork, corrugation, coulee, couloir, cover, crack, cranny, crevasse, crevice, crump, currency, cut, cut open, cwm, dado, dam, dam up, defile, dell, dike, ding, ding-a-ling, dingdong, dinging, dingle, dispart, ditch, divaricate, divide, dong, donga, donging, dough, draw, dull thud, engraving, excavation, fault, fill, fill up, filthy lucre, fissure, flaw, flick, flume, flump, flute, fluting, fly open, foul, fracture, furrow, gap, gape, gash, gong, gorge, gouge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, heel of Achilles, hole, incise, incision, interruption, jam, jangle, jingle, jingle-jangle, jinglejangle, jingling, joint, kloof, knell, knelling, lay open, leak, legal tender, lettuce, loot, microgroove, moat, notch, nullah, obstipate, obstruct, ope, open, open up, opening, pack, pad, part, pass, passage, pat, patter, peal, peal ringing, pealing, penetrability, pitapat, pitter-patter, plug, plug up, plump, plunk, pop, pregnability, rabbet, rap, ravine, rent, rifling, rift, rime, ring, ring changes, ringing, rip, rive, ruck, rupture, rut, scissure, score, scratch, seam, separate, slit, slot, soft spot, sound, sound a knell, spile, split, spread, spread out, spring open, stanch, stay, stench, stop, stop up, stopper, stopple, streak, stria, striation, stuff, stuff up, sulcation, sulcus, swing open, tap, tear, tear open, throw open, thud, thump, tick, ting, ting-a-ling, tingle, tingling, tink, tinkle, tinkling, tinnitus, tintinnabulate, toll, tolling, trench, tunk, valley, vincibility, void, vulnerability, vulnerable point, wadi, wampum, weak link, weak point, weakness, well-worn groove, wrinkle