"winkle out" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From winkle (“to extract”), from periwinkle (“a mollusk”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "winkles out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkling out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkled out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkled out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "winkle out (third-person singular simple present winkles out, present participle winkling out, simple past and past participle winkled out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "58 42",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [
            "Links with manual fragments",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"out\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Tom managed to winkle the truth out of John eventually.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:",
          "text": "He watched her blink rapidly and choose a difference sort of release: “I mean, since you’re so good at winkling people out!”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To acquire with difficulty, as by thorough scrutiny."
      ],
      "id": "en-winkle_out-en-verb-y27NpPpH",
      "links": [
        [
          "acquire",
          "acquire"
        ],
        [
          "difficulty",
          "difficulty"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, British) To acquire with difficulty, as by thorough scrutiny."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011, Ken Ford, Operation Archery: The Commandos and the Vaagso Raid 1941, page 59:",
          "text": "[…] was mopping up the remnants of German resistance and trying to winkle out individual enemy soldiers from their hiding places.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Raphael Samuel, Theatres of Memory: Past and Present in Contemporary Culture, page 67:",
          "text": "[…] using cloak-and-dagger methods to winkle out unwanted tenants and assemble vacant sites […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To get (something or someone) out of an entrenched position."
      ],
      "id": "en-winkle_out-en-verb-HrG862kT",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To get (something or someone) out of an entrenched position."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "winkle out"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"out\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From winkle (“to extract”), from periwinkle (“a mollusk”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "winkles out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkling out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkled out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkled out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "winkle out (third-person singular simple present winkles out, present participle winkling out, simple past and past participle winkled out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Tom managed to winkle the truth out of John eventually.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:",
          "text": "He watched her blink rapidly and choose a difference sort of release: “I mean, since you’re so good at winkling people out!”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To acquire with difficulty, as by thorough scrutiny."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "acquire",
          "acquire"
        ],
        [
          "difficulty",
          "difficulty"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, British) To acquire with difficulty, as by thorough scrutiny."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011, Ken Ford, Operation Archery: The Commandos and the Vaagso Raid 1941, page 59:",
          "text": "[…] was mopping up the remnants of German resistance and trying to winkle out individual enemy soldiers from their hiding places.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Raphael Samuel, Theatres of Memory: Past and Present in Contemporary Culture, page 67:",
          "text": "[…] using cloak-and-dagger methods to winkle out unwanted tenants and assemble vacant sites […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To get (something or someone) out of an entrenched position."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To get (something or someone) out of an entrenched position."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "winkle out"
}