CLINK

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does clink mean? 

• CLINK (noun)
  The noun CLINK has 2 senses:

1. a short light metallic sound

2. a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)

  Familiarity information: CLINK used as a noun is rare.

• CLINK (verb)
  The verb CLINK has 2 senses:

1. make a high sound typical of glass

2. make or emit a high sound

  Familiarity information: CLINK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLINK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A short light metallic sound

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

chink; click; clink

Hypernyms ("clink" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Derivation:

clink (make or emit a high sound)

clink (make a high sound typical of glass)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

clink; gaol; jail; jailhouse; pokey; poky; slammer

Hypernyms ("clink" is a kind of...):

correctional institution (a penal institution maintained by the government)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clink"):

bastille (a jail or prison (especially one that is run in a tyrannical manner))

holding cell (a jail in a courthouse where accused persons can be confined during a trial)

hoosegow; hoosgow (slang for a jail)

house of correction ((formerly) a jail or other place of detention for persons convicted of minor offences)

lockup (jail in a local police station)

workhouse (a county jail that holds prisoners for periods up to 18 months)

• CLINK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they clink    ... he / she / it clinks   
Past simple: clinked   
Past participle: clinked   
-ing form: clinking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a high sound typical of glass

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

champagne glasses clinked to make a toast

Hypernyms (to "clink" is one way to...):

sound (cause to sound)

Cause:

chink; clink; tink; tinkle (make or emit a high sound)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

clink (a short light metallic sound)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make or emit a high sound

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

chink; clink; tink; tinkle

Context example:

tinkling bells

Hypernyms (to "clink" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

clink (a short light metallic sound)

 Context examples 

That is The Cedars, and beside that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have little doubt, caught the clink of our horse’s feet.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dozens of empty bottles clinked together in corners to the rolling of the ship.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

On guard, mon gar.! I have not heard clink of steel this month or more.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then there was a payment of bets, and money clinked in Beauty Smith's hand.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I was afraid it was too happy to be real, and that I should wake in Buckingham Street presently, and hear Mrs. Crupp clinking the teacups in getting breakfast ready.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

” quoth Thomas Mugridge,—and they clinked their glasses to the glorious game of “Nap,” lighted cigars, and fell to shuffling and dealing the cards.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Twice during our meal she rose from her chair and withdrew into a cupboard at the end of the room, and each time I saw Jim’s face cloud, for we heard a gentle clink of glass against glass.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Again there was a long silence, and I had begun to fear that it was a false alarm, when a stealthy step was heard upon the other side of the hut, and a moment later a metallic scraping and clinking.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When Lady Russell not long afterwards, was entering Bath on a wet afternoon, and driving through the long course of streets from the Old Bridge to Camden Place, amidst the dash of other carriages, the heavy rumble of carts and drays, the bawling of newspapermen, muffin-men and milkmen, and the ceaseless clink of pattens, she made no complaint.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

His comrade was a large, red-headed man upon a great black horse, with a huge canvas bag slung from his saddle-bow, which jingled and clinked with every movement of his steed.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)