twinkle
/ˈtwɪŋ.kəl/ verb, noun
Forms twinkles twinkling twinkled
- verb (of a source of light) To shine with a flickering light; to glimmer. “We could see the lights of the village twinkling in the distance.”
- verb (chiefly of eyes) To be bright with delight. “His shrewd little eyes twinkled roguishly.”
- verb To bat, blink or wink the eyes.
- verb To flit to and fro.
- noun A sparkle or glimmer of light.
- noun A sparkle of delight in the eyes. “He was a rotund, jolly man with a twinkle in his eye.”
- noun A flitting movement.
- noun (colloquial) A brief moment; a twinkling.
- noun (childish) The female genitalia. “The popular Swedish cartoon song about genitals was translated as "Willie and Twinkle".”
Synonyms
flicker fulgurate glimmer scintillate shimmer wink sparkle nictitate flirt flutter glint glister spark twink flit flitter instant moment twinkling bat of an eye scintillation sparkling light flash blink winkle
Etymology
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”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink.
- verb To shine with an intermitted or a broken, quavering light; to flash at intervals; to sparkle; to scintillate.
- noun A closing or opening, or a quick motion, of the eye; a wink or sparkle of the eye. Suddenly, with twinkle of her eye, The damsel broke his misintended dart. Spenser.
- noun A brief flash or gleam, esp. when rapidly repeated.
Etymology [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “twinkle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details