pinkie promise

plural pinkie promises

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of pinky promise.

   They were the first players to sign the agreements under USC Coach Steve Sarkisian and UCLA Coach Jim Mora. "I feel like it's turning a handshake into a pinkie promise that you'll go there," [Josh] Rosen said.

   2014 September 18, Gary Klein, “High school football players sign up for new deal”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2014

   2 more examples

   As if this weren’t reassurance enough, up pops our foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to say he’s had a nice natter with Brunei’s foreign minister, who told him that prosecutions of this kind would be “unlikely”. Well, so long as it’s merely “unlikely” that people are stoned to death, that’s fine. Except it isn’t, is it? What is this – a weird diplomatic “pinkie promise”, which means precisely nothing?

   2019 April 13, Barbara Ellen, “Meghan Markle’s home birth should not blind us to the risks for most women”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Apr 2019

   There is no better example than his ill-fated promise to bind together two major pieces of legislation, Build Back Better and the infrastructure bill, in a kind of pinkie promise between progressives and moderates.

   2022 March 8, Blake Hounshell, Leah Askarinam, “From the Left, a Historian’s Plea for Democratic Party Unity”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2022

present singular third person pinkie promises · participle present pinkie promising · participle past pinkie promised · past pinkie promised

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of pinky promise.

   “I will help you,” Leslie [Knope] tells her and, in a moment of vision and daring, “pinkie promises” to build a park on the abandoned property.

   2009 April 9, Robert Lloyd, “Next door to ‘The Office’”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Oct 2020

   2 more examples

   Then she [Elizabeth Warren] got down on one knee to demonstrate how she talked to young girls on a regular basis: “I’d usually get down, I’m a teacher, and I would say, ‘Hi, my name is Elizabeth and I’m running for Senate because that’s what girls do.’” Ms. Warren also said she asked them to pinkie promise to run for Senate one day.

   2019 April 22, Sydney Ember, Astead W[esley] Herndon, Alexander Burns, “Highlights From 5 Candidates at CNN Town Halls”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2019

   But that semi-final snigger means Alan has an even bigger target on his back. He could now adopt a tactic of all-out attack. He “pinkie promised” allegiance to co-conspirator Cat Burns and might depend on her backing to survive.

   2025 November 5, Michael Hogan, “Who will win The Celebrity Traitors final – and how?”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2026