winkle
/ˈwɪŋk(ə)l
/noun
1A small herbivorous shore-dwelling mollusc with a spiral shell. Also called periwinkle2.
- Family Littorinidae, class Gastropoda: many genera and species, including the common and edible Littorina littorea.
- The sand was dotted with saucer - sized jellyfish, rocks and pools are squidgy with jelly buttons encrusted with limpets, barnacles and winkles and are seedbeds for mussels.
- Although there are many winkles on Breydon, I have never seen the oystercatcher take them.
2 informal A child’s term for a penis.So you see, when I dozed off in my garden chair in the middle of a fascinating discussion with my son about which animals have winkles and which don't, I was in very good company....
- One of my favourite snapshots of my son shows him running around, winkle to the wind, naked as the day he was born.
verb [with object] (winkle something out) chiefly British
Extract or obtain something with difficulty: I swore I wasn’t going to tell her, but she winkled it all out of me...
- He realises the paramount importance of getting all the facts into the public domain before the press winkle them out.
- If necessary, they'll read between the lines to winkle it out.
- Julio went quiet in the elevator and I finally winkled it out of him - he's wondering how long we've got provisions for.
Synonyms
worm out, prise out, dig out, extract with difficulty, draw out
force out, dislodge, displace, remove, evict, uproot
Derivatives
winkler
- Members of the Chippenham Winkle Club known as winklers donned their Christmas outfits for the giveaway along the Kennet and Avon canal.
Origin
Late 16th century: shortening of periwinkle2.