Twinkle

//ˈtwɪŋ.kəl// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sparkle or glimmer of light.

    "Soon the rocket was out of sight, and the flame was only seen as a tiny twinkle of light."

  2. 2
    merriment expressed by a brightness or gleam or animation of countenance wordnet
  3. 3
    A sparkle of delight in the eyes.

    "He was a rotund, jolly man with a twinkle in his eye."

  4. 4
    a rapid change in brightness; a brief spark or flash wordnet
  5. 5
    A flitting movement.

    "I saw the twinkle of white feet,"

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    A brief moment; a twinkling. colloquial
  2. 7
    The female genitalia. childish

    "The popular Swedish cartoon song about genitals was translated as "Willie and Twinkle"."

Verb
  1. 1
    To shine with a flickering light; to glimmer.

    "We could see the lights of the village twinkling in the distance."

  2. 2
    gleam or glow intermittently wordnet
  3. 3
    To be bright with delight.

    "His shrewd little eyes twinkled roguishly."

  4. 4
    emit or reflect light in a flickering manner wordnet
  5. 5
    To bat, blink or wink the eyes.

    "She smiled and gave a little nod and twinkled her eyes[…]"

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    To flit to and fro.

    "A butterfly twinkled among the vines[…]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English twinclen, twynclen, from Old English twinclian (“to twinkle”), equivalent to twink (“to wink; blink; twinkle”) + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare German zwinkern (“to wink; twinkle”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English twinclen, twynclen, from Old English twinclian (“to twinkle”), equivalent to twink (“to wink; blink; twinkle”) + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare German zwinkern (“to wink; twinkle”).

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