"winkle" meaning in English

See winkle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈwɪŋkəl/ Audio: En-au-winkle.ogg Forms: winkles [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪŋkəl Etymology: Short for periwinkle. Head templates: {{en-noun}} winkle (plural winkles)
  1. A periwinkle or its shell, of family Littorinidae. Synonyms (Littorinidae): oyster drill
    Sense id: en-winkle-en-noun-SFhegAag Disambiguation of 'Littorinidae': 63 37 0
  2. Any one of various marine spiral gastropods, especially, in the United States, either of two species Busycotypus canaliculatus or Busycon carica. Categories (topical): Genitalia Categories (lifeform): Littorinimorphs, Neogastropods Synonyms (Busycon and Busycotypus spp.): Fulgar carica, Busycon canaliculata
    Sense id: en-winkle-en-noun-tLtU-eKq Disambiguation of Genitalia: 14 68 3 15 Disambiguation of Littorinimorphs: 21 73 1 5 Disambiguation of Neogastropods: 21 73 1 5 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with Italian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 61 2 15 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 23 73 5 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 25 60 2 13 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 24 64 2 10 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 14 82 4 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 15 82 3 Disambiguation of 'Busycon and Busycotypus spp.': 17 83 0
  3. (childish, slang) The penis, especially that of a child rather than that of an adult. Tags: childish, slang Translations (children's slang: the penis): zizi [masculine] (French), pisello [masculine] (Italian)
    Sense id: en-winkle-en-noun--E9hglTG Disambiguation of "children's slang: the penis": 2 20 78
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: European sting winkle, winkle-picker
Etymology number: 1

Verb

IPA: /ˈwɪŋkəl/ Audio: En-au-winkle.ogg Forms: winkles [present, singular, third-person], winkling [participle, present], winkled [participle, past], winkled [past]
Rhymes: -ɪŋkəl Head templates: {{en-verb}} winkle (third-person singular simple present winkles, present participle winkling, simple past and past participle winkled)
  1. Synonym of winkle out (“to acquire or extract with difficulty”) Synonyms: winkle out [synonym, synonym-of] Derived forms: winkle-hawk, winkle out, winkle squeeze
    Sense id: en-winkle-en-verb-WpREONeB
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "European sting winkle"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "winkle-picker"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_text": "Short for periwinkle.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "winkles",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "winkle (plural winkles)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1615, Helkiah Crooke, Mikrokosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man, London: William Jaggard, Book 8, Chapter 25, p. 610:",
          "text": "[…] because the inward Eare is intorted like a winkle-shell, and hangeth as a bell in thee steeple of the body, it easily perceiueth all appulsions of the Ayre.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, London: G. Newbold, page 64:",
          "text": "Shrimps and winkles are the staple commodities of the afternoon trade, which lasts from three to half-past five in the evening. These articles are generally bought by the working-classes for their tea.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXV, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, page 181:",
          "text": "Sometimes late at night men would come in with a pail of winkles they had bought cheap, and share them out.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Ian McEwan, chapter 13, in Atonement, Toronto: Vintage Canada:",
          "text": "Briony was on her knees, trying to put her arms round Lola and gather her to her, but the body was bony and unyielding, wrapped tight about itself like a seashell. A winkle.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A periwinkle or its shell, of family Littorinidae."
      ],
      "id": "en-winkle-en-noun-SFhegAag",
      "links": [
        [
          "periwinkle",
          "periwinkle"
        ],
        [
          "Littorinidae",
          "Littorinidae#Translingual"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37 0",
          "sense": "Littorinidae",
          "word": "oyster drill"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "22 61 2 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 73 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 60 2 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 64 2 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 82 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 82 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 68 3 15",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Genitalia",
          "orig": "en:Genitalia",
          "parents": [
            "Body parts",
            "Reproduction",
            "Sex",
            "Body",
            "Anatomy",
            "Life",
            "All topics",
            "Biology",
            "Medicine",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental",
            "Sciences",
            "Healthcare",
            "Health"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 73 1 5",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Littorinimorphs",
          "orig": "en:Littorinimorphs",
          "parents": [
            "Gastropods",
            "Mollusks",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 73 1 5",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Neogastropods",
          "orig": "en:Neogastropods",
          "parents": [
            "Gastropods",
            "Mollusks",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1912, Daniel Melancthon Tredwell, Personal Reminiscences of Men and Things on Long Island:",
          "text": "There were also found fragments of the winkle (Fulgar carica).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1931, Bureau of Fisheries Document, volume 922, page 217:",
          "text": "The conchs or winkles, Busycon carica (fig. 204, opp. p. 216) and B. canaliculata, ... He gave the estimate of one planter who believed that one winkle was able to destroy a bushel of oysters in a single hour.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1969, Frank E. Firth, The encyclopedia of marine resources, page 139:",
          "text": "In Connecticut, the so-called \"winkle\" chowder is made from B. [Busycon] canaliculatum.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any one of various marine spiral gastropods, especially, in the United States, either of two species Busycotypus canaliculatus or Busycon carica."
      ],
      "id": "en-winkle-en-noun-tLtU-eKq",
      "links": [
        [
          "marine",
          "marine"
        ],
        [
          "gastropod",
          "gastropod"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83 0",
          "sense": "Busycon and Busycotypus spp.",
          "word": "Fulgar carica"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83 0",
          "sense": "Busycon and Busycotypus spp.",
          "word": "Busycon canaliculata"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004, Robert Priest, How to Swallow a Pig:",
          "text": "After all, he didn't want his winkle to get so big it became unruly and unnatural.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The penis, especially that of a child rather than that of an adult."
      ],
      "id": "en-winkle-en-noun--E9hglTG",
      "links": [
        [
          "childish",
          "childish"
        ],
        [
          "penis",
          "penis"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(childish, slang) The penis, especially that of a child rather than that of an adult."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "childish",
        "slang"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 20 78",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "children's slang: the penis",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "zizi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 20 78",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "children's slang: the penis",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "pisello"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈwɪŋkəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-winkle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/12/En-au-winkle.ogg/En-au-winkle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/En-au-winkle.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪŋkəl"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "winkle"
  ],
  "word": "winkle"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "winkles",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkling",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkled",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "winkle (third-person singular simple present winkles, present participle winkling, simple past and past participle winkled)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "winkle-hawk"
        },
        {
          "word": "winkle out"
        },
        {
          "word": "winkle squeeze"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023 October 11, “Scientists winkle a secret from the `Mona Lisa’ about how Leonardo painted the masterpiece”, in AP News, Associated Press:",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of winkle out (“to acquire or extract with difficulty”)"
      ],
      "id": "en-winkle-en-verb-WpREONeB",
      "links": [
        [
          "winkle out",
          "winkle out#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "to acquire or extract with difficulty",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "winkle out"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈwɪŋkəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-winkle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/12/En-au-winkle.ogg/En-au-winkle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/En-au-winkle.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪŋkəl"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "winkle"
  ],
  "word": "winkle"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪŋkəl",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪŋkəl/2 syllables",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "en:Genitalia",
    "en:Littorinimorphs",
    "en:Neogastropods"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "European sting winkle"
    },
    {
      "word": "winkle-picker"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_text": "Short for periwinkle.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "winkles",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "winkle (plural winkles)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1615, Helkiah Crooke, Mikrokosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man, London: William Jaggard, Book 8, Chapter 25, p. 610:",
          "text": "[…] because the inward Eare is intorted like a winkle-shell, and hangeth as a bell in thee steeple of the body, it easily perceiueth all appulsions of the Ayre.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, London: G. Newbold, page 64:",
          "text": "Shrimps and winkles are the staple commodities of the afternoon trade, which lasts from three to half-past five in the evening. These articles are generally bought by the working-classes for their tea.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXV, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, page 181:",
          "text": "Sometimes late at night men would come in with a pail of winkles they had bought cheap, and share them out.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Ian McEwan, chapter 13, in Atonement, Toronto: Vintage Canada:",
          "text": "Briony was on her knees, trying to put her arms round Lola and gather her to her, but the body was bony and unyielding, wrapped tight about itself like a seashell. A winkle.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A periwinkle or its shell, of family Littorinidae."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "periwinkle",
          "periwinkle"
        ],
        [
          "Littorinidae",
          "Littorinidae#Translingual"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1912, Daniel Melancthon Tredwell, Personal Reminiscences of Men and Things on Long Island:",
          "text": "There were also found fragments of the winkle (Fulgar carica).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1931, Bureau of Fisheries Document, volume 922, page 217:",
          "text": "The conchs or winkles, Busycon carica (fig. 204, opp. p. 216) and B. canaliculata, ... He gave the estimate of one planter who believed that one winkle was able to destroy a bushel of oysters in a single hour.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1969, Frank E. Firth, The encyclopedia of marine resources, page 139:",
          "text": "In Connecticut, the so-called \"winkle\" chowder is made from B. [Busycon] canaliculatum.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any one of various marine spiral gastropods, especially, in the United States, either of two species Busycotypus canaliculatus or Busycon carica."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "marine",
          "marine"
        ],
        [
          "gastropod",
          "gastropod"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English childish terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2004, Robert Priest, How to Swallow a Pig:",
          "text": "After all, he didn't want his winkle to get so big it became unruly and unnatural.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The penis, especially that of a child rather than that of an adult."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "childish",
          "childish"
        ],
        [
          "penis",
          "penis"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(childish, slang) The penis, especially that of a child rather than that of an adult."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "childish",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈwɪŋkəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-winkle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/12/En-au-winkle.ogg/En-au-winkle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/En-au-winkle.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪŋkəl"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "Littorinidae",
      "word": "oyster drill"
    },
    {
      "sense": "Busycon and Busycotypus spp.",
      "word": "Fulgar carica"
    },
    {
      "sense": "Busycon and Busycotypus spp.",
      "word": "Busycon canaliculata"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "children's slang: the penis",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "zizi"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "children's slang: the penis",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pisello"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "winkle"
  ],
  "word": "winkle"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 2-syllable words",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪŋkəl",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪŋkəl/2 syllables",
    "en:Genitalia",
    "en:Littorinimorphs",
    "en:Neogastropods"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "winkle-hawk"
    },
    {
      "word": "winkle out"
    },
    {
      "word": "winkle squeeze"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "winkles",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkling",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkled",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "winkled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "winkle (third-person singular simple present winkles, present participle winkling, simple past and past participle winkled)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023 October 11, “Scientists winkle a secret from the `Mona Lisa’ about how Leonardo painted the masterpiece”, in AP News, Associated Press:",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of winkle out (“to acquire or extract with difficulty”)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "winkle out",
          "winkle out#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "to acquire or extract with difficulty",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "winkle out"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈwɪŋkəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-winkle.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/12/En-au-winkle.ogg/En-au-winkle.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/En-au-winkle.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪŋkəl"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "winkle"
  ],
  "word": "winkle"
}

Download raw JSONL data for winkle meaning in English (6.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (f889f65 and 8fbd9e8). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.