twink

present singular third person twinks · participle present twinking · participle past twinked · past twinked

1. intransitiveTo twinkle; to sparkle.
2. dialectalintransitiveTo wink.

plural twinks

1. One or more very small, short bursts of light.

   1921, Almira Bailey, “The Bay on Sunday Morning” in Vignettes of San Francisco, San Francisco: The San Francisco Journal, p. 18, […] chug of the fishermen’s boats, twink of lights in the harbor at night […]

   1 more example

   But even as he went, the smile began to come on his face, caught by the tail of the sturdy sister’s black eye, with its everlasting twink.

   1934, D. H. Lawrence, “Smile”, in The Woman Who Rode Away and Other Stories, Hamburg: Albatross, page 101

   Synonyms: twinkle, glint

2. A very short moment of time.

   […] in a twink she won me to her love.

   c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

   2 more examples

   I’d have known all about it in half a twink.

   1893, Emily Sarah Holt, chapter 15, in All’s Well, London: J.F. Shaw, page 118

   […] and once again, in the twink of nothing, I was in another big high cab, all set to go hundreds of miles across the night, and was I happy!

   1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, chapter 3, in On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, part 1

   Synonyms: instant, twinkling, bat of an eye, bit, blink of an eye, crack, eyeblink, flash

plural twinks

1. The chaffinch.
2. A sound made by the chaffinch and some other birds.

   The chaffinch 'twinks, twinks!' sets up his topknot, and sings his very best to his mate that is sitting near him. Even the hedge sparrow and the wren sing well, although few would give them credit for it.

   1889, Charles Peters, The Girl's Own Outdoor Book: Containing Practical Help, page 390

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   [page 11:] Integrated movements are accompanied by two calls—the 'twink' which may be uttered in phrases of up to 5 notes, and the 'chich ich ich', similar to the scolding note but less harsh. Often the two calls are combined into a single phrase—'twink twink chich ich ich'. Either may be used at the beginning or end of a movement, or when the birds settle on intermediate […] [page 12:] […] A few counts made at the four points were therefore supplemented by recording the number of twinks heard in two or three fixed five minute periods per half hour, in whatever part of the wood I happened to be. The number of twinks per minute obtained on all occasions in each hour of the day for each month […] [page 146:] (v) Sometimes the bird flies up and towards the observer, perching near him and scolding with a wide variety of calls—principally 'pit pit churr', 'pit pit chich ich ich', or a very harsh 'chich kik kik kik', mixed with occasional twinks. These calls are accompanied by a jerking movement […]

   1952, Robert A. Hinde, The Behaviour of the Great Tit (Parus Major) and Some Other [Birds]

present singular third person twinks · participle present twinking · participle past twinked · past twinked

1. intransitiveTo chirp or twitter.

plural twinks

1. slangLGBTA young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair.

   […]the narrow gay ideal of a slim or waiflike male body, as displayed by the young "twink".

   2006, Dennis D. Waskul, Phillip Vannini, Body/Embodiment: Symbolic Interaction and the Sociology of the Body, page 135

   1 more example

   “Where are the twinks anyway? They usually have the decency to provide one or two decorative twinks… Jesus, who needs to waste a night staring at these tired old Gucci queens.”

   1978, Armistead Maupin, “Full moon in Seacliff”, in Tales of the City, New York: Ballantine, pages 253–254

   Synonyms: chicken · Antonyms: bear

2. derogatoryslangA weak or effeminate man, whether gay or not.

   “I thought testosterone would turn me into a man, but it turned me into a twink,” Tom, who is nonbinary, revealed to a cackling West Village audience last week at the Greenwich House Theater in Manhattan.

   2023 December 14, Gina Cherelus, “The Trans Comic Looking for Love ‘at the End of the World’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2024

   Synonyms: pretty boy, fairy, bading, big girl's blouse, cockney, cot-quean, cupcake, dudelet

3. USdatedpossiblyslanggovernmentA new recruit.

   He was a twink—a recruit—no longer, but a sophomore at least, and, since this was war's campus, accelerating you no end, maybe a junior already.

   1988, Paul West, The Place in Flowers where Pollen Rests, page 370

   2 more examples

   But most of the lifers had never seen 'Nam and most of the twinks—the new recruits—had little idea of where they were going […] [page 61:] twinks waiting to be assigned to their units […] [page 94:] loaded aboard a chopper with the day's resupply of twinks to join Charlie Company […]

   1983, Peter Louis Goldman, Tony Fuller, Charlie Company: What Vietnam Did to Us, page 32

   [page 19:] "[…] twink. "That's right. Since he's a new recruit, I thought you could teach him some of the finer points of shit-burning. Now chop chop," Reynolds said, then turned and left. "You heard the man," the guard said, then […] It was bad enough to put him in the stockade, but to treat him like that twink Konieczny . . . He'd spent ten months in-country—tne fucking months—and he'd walked point for the first three. […] [page 26:] And he wasn't even a twink. He'd been in the bush long enough to […]

   1996, David Jauss, Black Maps

4. InternetderogatorymildlygamesA lower-level character in a roleplaying game (MMO) who is artificially overgeared or overpowered, due to being given advanced equipment or resources via a higher-level character controlled by the same player.First known use late 1990s

   Characters who were obvious twinks, possessing equipment well beyond their means, were subject to public criticism.

   2016, Timothy Rowlands, Video Game Worlds: Working at Play in the Culture of EverQuest, page 71

   1 more example

   Bind-on-account was an innovation that allowed players to transfer goods to their own twinks, but not to those of other players.

   2015, Richard A. Bartle, MMOs from the Inside Out, page 154

5. InternetdatedderogatorygamesA player in a multi-user dungeon (MUD) who engages in abusive min-maxing behaviour and exploits or took advantage of other players for personal gain.First known use 1980s and 1990s

   I certainly don't consider myself a twink; however it seems that anyone who doesn't agree with another's point of view is automatically labelled as such.

   1997, Flower of the Night, “Looking for a mud”, in rec.games.mud.diku (Usenet)

   1 more example

   You will not find any stock. You will not find any easy mobs. You will not find any +100 dam 'big swords of I win'. You will not find twink mudders. You will not hear about how Jim the Kewl dOOd scored last night at his sister's birthday party. You will not find bots.

   1997, Gov't Cheeze, “[AD/REQUEST] Builders and Players (twinks need not apply)”, in rec.games.mud.admin (Usenet)

present singular third person twinks · participle present twinking · participle past twinked · past twinked

1. derogatoryintransitivegamesTo engage in obnoxious or abusive behaviour in a multi-user dungeon or other roleplaying game, for example by griefing or by equipping a low-level character with advanced equipment from another player.

   Twinking happens in virtual worlds with PD, but not to the same extent.

   2004, Richard A. Bartle, Designing Virtual Worlds, page 429

   3 more examples

   However, the taboo surrounding twinking had all but disappeared by the time I started playing again in 2004.

   2016, Timothy Rowlands, Video Game Worlds: Working at Play in the Culture of EverQuest

   He used real money to buy large amounts of in-game gold then 'twinked' his new character with the best gear, upgrading as his level rapidly increased.

   2018, Adam Drake, Shadow For Hire Books 1-4

   That the twinked little brat doesn't want to mention that the only reason she won a single game was that daddy cut her a fat check.

   2020, Alex Maven, ForeverQuest: Online Battle Arena

1. New ZealanduncountableCorrection fluid or correction tape.

1. New ZealandSynonym of correction fluid.

   Synonyms: correction fluid