spinkn.1
/spɪnk/ Now dialect.
1. † b. Scottish. Used as an abusive epithet. Obsolete. rare.
a. One or other of the finches; esp. the chaffinch.Also, in Lancashire and Cumbria, the yellow-hammer.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Fringillidae (finch) > [noun]
fincha700
spinkc1425
thistle-finch1589
thistlewarp1598
grosbeak1678
fringillide1853
thistle-bird1872
thistle-feeder1904
spinkie1911
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Fringillidae (finch) > [noun] > subfamily Fringillinae > fringilla coelebs (chaffinch)
spinkc1425
chaffinchc1440
sheld-apple1544
shilfa1684
guinet1725
wheat-bird1747
piefinch1779
scobby1800
beech-finch1815
pink1816
twink1816
whitewing1854
spinkie1911
c1425 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 640 Hic rostellus, spynke.
1483 Cath. Angl. 355/2 A Spynke.., spinx.
a1529 J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. B.iiv The larke with his longe to The spynke and ye martynet also.
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique vii. lv. 886 The spinke is a very beautifull and melodious birde, but all spinkes haue not one and the same tunes.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. v. 175 The Spinck, the Linote, and the Gold-Finch fill All the fresh Aire with their sweet warbles shrill.
1628 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 3) iii. ii. iii. 468 Like a summer flye or Spinxes winges, or a raigne bow of all colours.
1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 2nd Bk. Wks. xiv. 94 The little bird called a spink or chaffinch.
1767 W. Harte Amaranth 186 The spink chaunts sweetest in a hedge of thorns.
1787 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds Suppl. I. 165 The Chaffinch..called by some..Spink, from its cry.
1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 385 Spinx, the chaffinch.
1875 R. Browning Aristophanes' Apol. 341 Collops of hare, with roast spinks rare.
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the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > as abused
warlockOE
swinec1175
beastc1225
wolf's-fista1300
avetrolc1300
congeonc1300
dirtc1300
slimec1315
snipec1325
lurdanc1330
misbegetc1330
sorrowa1350
shrew1362
jordan1377
wirlingc1390
frog?a1400
warianglea1400
wretcha1400
horcop14..
turdc1400
callet1415
lotterela1450
paddock?a1475
souter1478
chuff?a1500
langbain?c1500
cockatrice1508
sow1508
spink1508
wilrone1508
rook?a1513
streaker?a1513
dirt-dauber?1518
marmoset1523
babiona1529
poll-hatcheta1529
bear-wolf1542
misbegotten1546
pig1546
excrement1561
mamzer1562
chuff-cat1563
varlet1566
toada1568
mandrake1568
spider1568
rat1571
bull-beef1573
mole-catcher1573
suppository1573
curtal1578
spider-catcher1579
mongrela1585
roita1585
stickdirta1585
dogfish1589
Poor John1589
dog's facec1590
tar-boxa1592
baboon1592
pot-hunter1592
venom1592
porcupine1594
lick-fingers1595
mouldychaps1595
tripe1595
conundrum1596
fat-guts1598
thornback1599
land-rat1600
midriff1600
stinkardc1600
Tartar1600
tumbril1601
lobster1602
pilcher1602
windfucker?1602
stinker1607
hog rubber1611
shad1612
splay-foot1612
tim1612
whit1612
verdugo1616
renegado1622
fish-facea1625
flea-trapa1625
hound's head1633
mulligrub1633
nightmare1633
toad's-guts1634
bitch-baby1638
shagamuffin1642
shit-breech1648
shitabed1653
snite1653
pissabed1672
bastard1675
swab1687
tar-barrel1695
runt1699
fat-face1740
shit-sack1769
vagabond1842
shick-shack1847
soor1848
b1851
stink-pot1854
molie1871
pig-dog1871
schweinhund1871
wind-sucker1880
fucker1893
cocksucker1894
wart1896
so-and-so1897
swine-hound1899
motherfucker1918
S.O.B.1918
twat1922
mong1926
mucker1929
basket1936
cowson1936
zombie1936
meatball1937
shower1943
chickenshit1945
mugger1945
motherferyer1946
hooer1952
morpion1954
mother1955
mother-raper1959
louser1960
effer1961
salaud1962
gunk1964
scunge1967
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 218 Spynk, sink wyth stynk ad Tertera Termagorum.
2. With distinguishing prefix, as herring spink, the golden-crested wren; †mountain spink, the mountain finch or brambling. Also goldspink n.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Fringillidae (finch) > [noun] > subfamily Fringillinae > fringilla montifringilla (brambling)
brambling1570
mountain spink1611
bramble1674
mountain finch1678
snow-finch1781
snow-hammer1802
snow-lark1832
cock of the North1834
furze-chucker1847
bramble-finch1865
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Regulus > regulus regulus (goldcrest)
yellowbird1625
regulus1750
basilisk1753
marigold bird1772
nettle creeper1772
goldcrest1819
marigold finch1828
kinglet1835
woodcock pilot1871
thumb bird1885
tot-o'er-seas1885
herring spink1906
pope's eye1965
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Passe de bois, the little brambling, or mountaine Spinke.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 21 July 13/1 By the fisher~men of the North Sea these little birds are known as ‘herring spinks’.
3. Used to imitate or represent the characteristic note or cry of certain birds. (Usually with repetition.)
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the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [interjection] > imitation of call of bird
cockc1405
jug, jug1523
pewewea1525
te-whita1529
twit1602
sweet-sweet1606
weet-weet1808
weet1863
whee-oh1892
spink1898
tweet1992
1898 R. Kearton Wild Life at Home 82 Some tantalising accident scared her off with an angry ‘spink, spink, spink’.
1899 S. R. Crockett Kit Kennedy 195 Here..the stone-chats cried ‘Spink! spink! spink!’
Derivatives
spink v. (intransitive) to utter the note ‘spink’.
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the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [verb (intransitive)] > make other type of sound
babblec1450
jugle1576
wail1595
jug1657
spink1892
1892 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. July 103 He spinks, and chatters, and vibrates his little quill.
1898 R. Kearton Wild Life at Home 54 [The young blackbirds] ‘spink, spink, spinked’ as loudly and angrily as if a cat had intruded itself upon them.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
spinkn.2
northern dialect.† 1. A spot or marking of a different colour on cattle. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bos taurus or ox > [noun] > colour or markings
spink1550
lear1601
star1697
1550–1 in York Wills (1902) VI. 306 Too blake whies, one with a whyte spynke of the backe.
2. (See quot. 1829.)
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the world > matter > light > light emitted in particular manner > [noun] > spark or glittering light
sprankle1398
sparkle1490
spunkc1540
sparka1542
scintil1599
glitter1602
star1609
stricture1628
spinther1641
scintillation1646
fanglea1657
scintilla1661
sparkleta1687
twinkle1689
spangle1821
spink1829
crown jewel1851
twink1870
peep1882
1829 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words (new ed.) Spink, a spark of fire or light.
1870 Gibson Up-Weardale Gloss. (E.D.D.) Not a spink of light.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
spinkn.3
Scottish and northern.
The cuckoo-flower or lady-smock, Cardamine pratensis. Frequently erroneously defined as ‘a pink’ (Jamieson, 1808), or confused with other plants, as the primrose or polyanthus.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > cruciferous flowers > white or purple flowers
garden rocket1548
queen's gillyflower1573
cuckoo-flower1578
damask violet1578
dame's-violet1578
rogue's gilliflower1578
wild passerage1578
lady's smock1593
Canterbury bells1597
close-sciences1597
sea stock-gillyflower1597
cardamine1609
melancholic gentleman1629
melancholy gentleman1629
Whitsun gilliflower1656
Hesperis1666
rocket1731
queen's violet1733
queen's July-flower1760
Virginian stock1760
spinka1774
damewort1776
virgin-stock1786
pink1818
sea-stock1849
clown's mustard1861
rock beauty1870
milksile-
a1774 R. Fergusson Poems (1785) 139 Or can our flow'rs at ten hours bell The gowan or the spink excell?
1806 A. Douglas Poems 99 Countless spinks an' daisies springin, Gaily deckt ilk vale an' hill.
1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 9 Dear daffodillies, Kingcups and spinks, and livelie lillies.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
† spinkadj.
Obsolete.
= spinked adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bos taurus or ox > [adjective] > having particular markings
hawked?a1513
scored1535
tailed1539
rigged1555
spink1558
spanged1582
spinked1588
wanded1713
finched1786
sparky1787
finch-backed1790
sheeted1834
the world > matter > colour > variegation > spot of colour > [adjective] > speckling > speckled
freckledc1380
specked1382
specky1382
splecked1382
peckleda1400
speckleda1400
pleckedc1410
frecknyc1440
sparkled1480
spurtled1513
sprittleda1522
spreckled1535
speckle1536
pickled1552
spink1558
bespecked1565
spanged1582
spinked1588
spangled1590
dotted1601
bespeckled1607
peppery1610
peppered1694
fleckled1700
spankled1703
speckly1705
pounced1727
punctulateda1728
dotty1795
punctulate1845
naevose1847
peckly1859
polka-dotted1872
stippled1876
oatmeal1880
guttulate1887
naevous1890
stipply1892
thrush-breast1896
skittery1955
1558 in Archæol. Jrnl. 5 316 I gyve to Isabell Carter one spynke oxe.
1618–9 in F. Collins Wills & Admin. Knaresborough Court Rolls (1902) II. 54 A brandid spink cow.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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n.1c1425n.21550n.3a1774
adj.1558