tinkle
/ˈtɪŋk(ə)l
/verb
1Make or cause to make a light, clear ringing sound: [no object]: cool water tinkled in the stone fountains [with object]: the maid tinkled a bell...
- I heard laughter like tiny tinkling bells beside me and I looked up.
- The hall fell suddenly and completely silent, except for the sound of the glass tinkling slightly and the wine dripping down the wall.
- Exclamations of joy coalesced into one voice, whose laughter tinkled oppressively through the clear, mountain air.
Synonyms
ring, jingle, jangle, chime, peal, ding, ping, clink, chink
rare tintinnabulate
splash, purl, babble, burble
literary plash
2 [no object] British informal Urinate: I needed to tinkle...
- And she didn't want the mother to hear her tinkle.
noun
1A light, clear ringing sound: the distant tinkle of a cow bell...
- The light tinkle of Inger's laughter seemed to fill the small room.
- Somewhere in the distance, probably, sounds the tinkle of sheep bells and the lowing of cows.
- A tinkle of glasses sounded as he began pouring drinks.
Synonyms
ring, chime, peal, ding, ping, clink, chink, jingle, jangle
rare tintinnabulation
splash, purl, babble, burble
literary plash
1.1British informal A telephone call: I’ll give them a tinkle...
- If there's anything in the company manual that doesn't leap out at you, feel free to give me a tinkle.
- All it needs is a tinkle to the Central Reservation Office of AP Tourism and ask for customised tour and a tour hostess to help you finalise your tour according to the interest and time available.
Synonyms
telephone call, phone call, call
informal buzz
British informal ring, bell
2British informal An act of urinating: you have to pay to go in for a tinkle...
- I haven't eaten for fourteen hours and it hurts - I'm irritable and hungry: there's a strange taste in my mouth, and my frequent tinkles are as clear as Welsh mountain streams.
- The only reason the booth is ever empty is when the employees have to go for a tinkle, and they're supposed to lock the turnstile until they get back.
Derivatives
tinkly
- It has an often light orchestration, with lots of harp, tinkly percussion, and celesta and even harpsichord (which sounded, to my ears, a bit wrong for a late - 19 th-century American salon).
- We should also mention that the gallery has set up some speakers in the gallery playing tinkly avant-garde piano music.
- You might think you had stepped back in time to some gruesome, medieval torture chamber - but for the soothing yellow-coloured walls and tinkly background music which create an ambience of calming relaxation.
Origin
Late Middle English (also in the sense 'tingle'): frequentative of obsolete tink 'to chink or clink', of imitative origin.