blink
/blɪŋk
/verb [no object]
1Shut and open the eyes quickly: I blinked in astonishment [with object]: he blinked his eyes nervously she blinked away her tears...
- She waited for it to go away; she blinked, shut her eyes and opened them again to no avail.
- He opened his eyes and quickly blinked as the rainwater seeped into his eyes.
- He blinked quickly and then turned to look at the half open door where his mother was leaning inside.
Synonyms
shut and open, flutter, flicker, wink, bat
technical nictitate, nictate
1.1 [with object] (blink something back) Try to control or prevent tears by blinking: Elizabeth blinked back tears...
- She lay there for a few seconds before blinking the tears back.
- Emily found her eyes full of tears, and blinked them back.
- Her gray eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them back resolutely.
1.2 [usually with negative] (blink at) React to (something) with surprise or disapproval: he doesn’t blink at the unsavoury aspects of his subject...
- Well, purchasing power is up for sure and nobody blinks at a thousand rupees for a ticket anymore.
- Why, he asks, does wearing the swastika attract widespread scorn, while no one blinks at the person wearing a hammer and sickle on his baseball cap?
- Neither mother nor child even blinked at the scene they created.
Synonyms
be surprised, look twice, be startled, be shocked
informal boggle
1.3Back down from a confrontation: the government blinked only after losing 46 of the first 48 hearings...
- It looks like they're playing chicken to see who's going to blink first.
- On the matter of generic pharmaceuticals, it seems to be a case of who blinks first.
- Another area where enterprise customers blink is multiple sources.
2(Of a light) flash on and off in a regular or intermittent way: the car’s right-hand indicator was blinking...
- The overhead lights blinked once, then went out, casting the compartment in darkness.
- A red light began blinking and flashing in the room, and an alarm went berserk.
- At night all the lights blink and flash, and you can hear waves of screams from the rides.
Synonyms
flash, flicker, twinkle, waver, wink, scintillate, glint, glimmer, glitter, shine (intermittently)
noun
1An act of shutting and opening the eyes very quickly: he was observing her every blink...
- I take long blinks and rarely look at the camera's screen.
- Tying a balloon at the gate to the zoo, he catches the blink of a cashier before she rings up another fee, hungers for the moment a turtle slips into water.
- Voters are seen as a strange and volatile lot, who could turn bad at the blink of an eye.
1.1A moment’s hesitation: Feargal would have given her all this without a blink...
- The film leaps from cityscapes to stages and back without a blink.
- If I would get the chance I would fight them tomorrow without a blink of my eye.
- She accepted the whole thing without a blink… although I can't say the same about my brother and father.
2A momentary gleam of light: out on the marshes there was a blink of light...
- The car responds with a blink of its lights and a short shriek.
- It should come as no surprise that, when the slightest blink of yellow light came into view, I recklessly sped towards it.
- She gave Sasha a short blink from her light and heard the car motor start.
Phrases
in the blink of an eye (or in a blink)
not blink an eye
on the blink
Origin
Middle English: from blenk, Scots variant of blench1, reinforced by Middle Dutch blinken 'to shine'. Early senses included 'deceive', 'flinch' (compare with blench1), and also 'open the eyes after sleep': hence sense 1 of the verb (mid 16th century).