bink

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪŋk

Etymology 1

From Middle English bink, binke, variants of Middle English benk, benke, from Old English benc (“bench”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz. More at bench.

Noun

bink (plural binks)

1. (UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A bench.
   • 1877, William Alexander, “Domestic Industries and Out-door Labour”, in Notes and Sketches Illustrative of Northern Rural Life in the Eighteenth Century, page 144:

     He bouns him to the house, An' sits him doon upo' the bink, An' plaits a theet, or mends a mink, To sair an aifter use .

   • 1885, “The Lion, The Leper, and the Tod”, in The Folk-lore Journal - Volume 3, page 269:

     In comes the tod (fox) whiskin, whiskin, an he sits doon o' the green bink.

   • 1987, Alexander Scott, Voices of Our Kind: An Anthology of Modern Scottish Poetry, page 64:

     Sitting here in the park bink, Alane - yet no aa that alane.

2. (UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A table or similar surface for laying out items.
   • 1832, “Whistle-binkie: a Collection of Comic and Sentimental Songs”, in Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, and Sciences, page 501:

     According to the most painstaking among our etymologist, the name was first conferred upon one who, in his attendance upon weddings and other convivial occasions, rendered himself so agreeable to the company by his skill in whistling, that he was allowed to sit at the bink, or board , and partake of the good things free of all expense; an honour , in the early ages of our history , which was only conferred on the highest degree of merit.

   • 1891, Alexander Maxwell, Old Dundee, page 193:

     In front of the entrance to Alexander's booth there used to stand "a stane bink" which was employed "for outsetting of stands affore the buith."

   • 1908, Frederick William Watkeys, Old Edinburgh, page 234:

     His wife may ay sit foremost doun, At either buird or bink, Gang foremost in at door or yett, And ay the first guid-day wald get, With all men honourit and weel-tret As ony heart wald think.

3. (UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A sideboard or shelf unit for holding dishes.
   • 1684, John Colvil., “Mock Poem”, in The Teares of the Muses:

     We have it in a manuscript; the good-man keeps it, as we think, Behind a dish, upon the bink.

   • 1911, Old-lore Miscellany of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, and Sutherland,- Volume 4:

     The bink took the place of the modern dresser , and on it were arranged the bowls and tinnies for family use, while underneath were placed the pails, pots, and other cooking utensils.

   • 1999, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy. A legend of Montrose. The bridge of Lammermoor. The monastery, page 375:

     His wife on the one side, in her pearlings and pudding sleeves, put the last finishing touch to her holiday's apparel, while she contemplated a very handsome and good-humored face in a broken mirror, raised upon the bink (the shelves on which the plates are disposed ) for her special accommodation.

4. (UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A mountain ledge.
   • 1842, Alexander Ross, Helenore; or, The fortunate shepherdess, page 17:

     Up thro' the cleughs, where bink on bink was set, Scrambling wi' hands and feet she taks the gate,

   • 1902, Claude Ernest Benson, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 240:

     We peer over the edge—it is far more pleasant to kneel down on one knee and steady oneself with one hand, besides being safer, in the event of the edge being rotten or should a wind be blowing—we peer over the edge, and see the fox run lightly along a slightly projecting crag, from which with a sidelong scramble up a rough rock face, it reaching a narrow grassy "bink" ledge, and there it is binked as safe as the Church of England ( just about ) .

   • 1902, Claude Ernest Benson ·, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 18:

     Without a stick a man would climb down sideways from bink to bink.

   • 1911, Abraham Wren Rumney, The Dalesman, page 127:

     There was a man did that up on that bink, a hundred years or more ago, two hundred more like, for there was no gun in Nardale then.

5. (UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A long cut in peat moss, marking a section from which blocks of peat are cut.
   • 1811, William Aiton, A Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss-earth, page 145:

     They carry on the section, or the bink as they term it, of a convenient depth for easier cutting, frequently using the moss of least value above, and leaving that which is of much greater value.

   • 1892, “Peat, Its Use and Value for Fuel”, in Report of the Bureau of Mines - Volumes 1-4, page 188:

     We go on in this manner until the bink is out, that is, taken out down to the level of last year's hole. Bink after bink is excavated until the whole block that was turred is removed, and now as the most valuable part is under our feet we have to commence to "sink."

   • 2022, John Sillars, The McBrides: A Romance of Arran:

     Och, an' I ken folk mysel' that found an iron pot o' doubloons in the peat bink; but aul ' Tchonie, he just takes what he will be needin', and he takes it at night when the folks are abed.

6. (UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) A hive.
   • 1840, James Duncan, The Natural History of Bees, page 240:

     This splendid attire, however, saves them not from being rudely handled; and we remember the day when an artificial bink, that is , a little box made of clay , with a piece of glass at one end , and a sprinkling of sugar at the other , contained as many captives in proportion to its size as the black hole at Calcutta .

   • 1856, Archibald Boyd, The Crown Ward - Volume 3, page 143:

     Just that –no that I'm sure that there are ony honey-bees in Arthur's seat, but there's plenty of bum-bees, and aiblins a wasp bink. "

   • 1890, Bee-keepers' Record, page 147:

     On 19th July I examined old hive, turned it completely up on its side: combs nearly black, two at one side as musty as an old wasp's bink: decided to clear them out on Monday.

Verb

bink (third-person singular simple present binks, present participle binking, simple past and past participle binked)

1. (UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect, foxhunting) To shelter or become trapped on a ledge or crag.
   • 1902, A. G. Bradley, “Fox-hunting in the Lake Country”, in Macmillan's Magazine, volume 86, page 196:

     On June 2nd, the last day of this season, Bowman spent six hours extricating as many hounds who had got themselves binked on Catle Crag in Mardale.

   • 1902, Claude Ernest Benson, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 240:

     We peer over the edge—it is far more pleasant to kneel down on one knee and steady oneself with one hand, besides being safer, in the event of the edge being rotten or should a wind be blowing—we peer over the edge, and see the fox run lightly along a slightly projecting crag, from which with a sidelong scramble up a rough rock face, it reaching a narrow grassy "bink" ledge, and there it is binked as safe as the Church of England (just about).

   • 1903, Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, Lake Country Sketches, page 196:

     A fox gets 'binked,' as they call it, or banked, and some one must go up on an almost inaccessible crag to put in the terrier; and a man must know the country, and the probable run of every fox that gets up in front of the hounds .

   • 1903 January 10, West Cumberland Times, page 2:

     The hounds drove him into Dead Crag, where he binked.

2. (UK, Northern England, Scotland, dialect) To cut a bink in peat moss.
   • 1900, The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland - Volume 2, page 516:

     On June last he caused his servants cast a number of "peittis for elding unto his hous in the mosse of belonging to him heritablie, and they having binked the same and left thame in the mosse , " returned home to their master's house at night .

Etymology 2

Clipping of binky.

Noun

bink (plural binks)

2. A pacifier.
   • 2011, Harrison Briner, ‎Loni Briner, 13 Days With Gideon, page 18:

     Even though we don't agree with the practice of the use of the bink in our house, Gideon was an exception.

   • 2018, Justin Lind-Ayres, Is That Poop on My Arm?: Parenting While Christian, page 86:

     Of course, we create the problem to begin with by offering a bink to newborn babies.

   • 2018, Maureen Sky, Kennedy and Her Bink:

     I am now eighteen months old and some say it is time to take away my bink. I say for now , let it stay! I have my fun toys and my little red wagon; that is true; but taking bink away now will only make me sad and blue .

Etymology 3

Onomatopoeia

Noun

bink (plural binks)

1. A musical, percussive noise; plink.
   • 1930, Richard Connell, “Pardon this Intrusion”, in Collier's, volume 86, page 12:

     The knob turned—.bink, bink, bink, on the treble keys .

   • 2000, Accidents in North American Mountaineering, page 49:

     I was looking at the rack to wee what cam I could pop in when I heard this "bink! " sound , and I looked up and saw big loops of the rope falling toward me.

   • 2013, Richard Hammond, On the Road: Growing up in Eight Journeys - My Early Years:

     It was, I think, an Austin Avenger, and it made the most delicate and musical yet important noise,'bink-a-bink-a-bink-a', as he tilted the lever to navigate us round the busy seaside town.

   • 2021, Mr. Lucky, Loser: Thoughts and War Stories from Years of Casino Battles, page 12:

     You will know where it is immediately by the constant "bink, bink, bink, bink” sound that casts such a trance like spell over the players.

Verb

bink (third-person singular simple present binks, present participle binking, simple past and past participle binked)

1. To make a bink noise.
   • 2001, Geoff Cochrane, Acetylene, page 13:

     My tinny typing binked.

   • 2011, Rod Kierkegaard, ‎Vicki Keire, The Department of Magic:

     From the palm of her hand, Farah's iPhone binked and chirped once every minute or so with calls or text messages, but she was ignoring them.

   • 2011, Jody Lynn Nye, View from the Imperium - Volume 1:

     The system "binked" acknowledgement.

   • 2014, Carol Paradise Decker, Pecos Pueblo People Through the Ages: Stories of Time and Place, page 160:

     Some of the men at Cochiti made fine drums, big ones that boomed and smaller ones that "binked" with different pitches .

2. To poke lightly.
   • 2005, David Gessner, Sick of Nature, page 89:

     It didn't hurt, not at all, but at that moment, as that ballpoint binked my chest, something binked inside my head.

   • 2014, Hannah Alexander, Collateral Damage, page 188:

     Carmen gave her a toothy grin and binked her on the nose with a forefinger.

   • 2024, Juan Vidal, A Second Chance on Earth:

     As we went to reengage, Mrs. Shore jumped in and got binked with an accidental elbow .

Anagrams

• knib

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Romani beng, from Sanskrit व्यङ्ग (vyaṅga).

Originally Bargoens, attested since 1731.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bink
• Rhymes: -ɪŋk

Noun

bink m (plural binken, diminutive binkje n)

1. a muscular, stout, or tough man

   Synonym: bikkel

   • 2011, Harlan Coben, Levenslijn (Myron Bolitar series), tr. by Martin Jansen in de Wal, Meulenhoff Boekerij (publ.).

     Myron Bolitar, de stoere bink met zijn stellige uitspraken.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• ketelbink

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪŋk/

Etymology 1

From Middle English benk, from Old English benċ, from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz. Cognate with English bench.

Noun

bink (plural binks)

1. bench, ledge
2. (archaic) shelf, storage rack

Alternative forms

• benk

Etymology 2

Noun

bink (plural binks)

1. (Hawick) Alternative form of byke