Meanings
present singular third person winkles out · participle present winkling out · participle past winkled out · past winkled out
- UKtransitiveTo acquire with difficulty, as by thorough scrutiny.
Tom managed to winkle the truth out of John eventually.
1 more example
He watched her blink rapidly and choose a difference sort of release: “I mean, since you’re so good at winkling people out!”
2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN - transitiveTo get (something or someone) out of an entrenched position.
[…] using cloak-and-dagger methods to winkle out unwanted tenants and assemble vacant sites […]
2012, Raphael Samuel, Theatres of Memory: Past and Present in Contemporary Culture, page 671 more example
[…] was mopping up the remnants of German resistance and trying to winkle out individual enemy soldiers from their hiding places.
2011, Ken Ford, Operation Archery: The Commandos and the Vaagso Raid 1941, page 59
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From winkle (“to extract”), from periwinkle (“a mollusk”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
winkle out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/winkle%20out
“winkle out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/winkle%20out. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “winkle out,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/winkle%20out.
Source: winkle out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.