Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense, plural inks, present participle inking, past tense, past participle inked
1. variable noun
Ink is the coloured liquid used for writing or printing.
The letter was handwritten in black ink.
2. verb
If you ink something, you put ink on it.
Ritter took his left hand and inked the fingertips. [VERB noun]
ink in British English
(ɪŋk)
noun
1.
a fluid or paste used for printing, writing, and drawing
2.
a dark brown fluid ejected into the water for self-concealment by an octopus or related mollusc from a gland (ink sac) near the anus
3. informal
a tattoo or a series of tattoos
verb(transitive)
4.
to mark with ink
5.
to coat (a printing surface) with ink
Derived forms
inker (ˈinker)
noun
Word origin
C13: from Old French enque, from Late Latin encaustum a purplish-red ink, from Greek enkauston purple ink, from enkaustos burnt in, from enkaiein to burn in; see en-2, caustic
ink in American English
(ɪŋk)
noun
1.
a colored liquid used for writing, drawing, etc.
2.
a sticky, colored paste used in printing; printer's ink
3. Slang
publicity, esp. in newspapers
4.
a dark, liquid secretion ejected by cuttlefish, octopuses, and squid to confuse or inhibit a predator
verb transitive
5.
to cover with ink; spread ink on
6.
to mark, write, sign, draw, or color with ink
often with in
7. Slang
to sign one's name to
Word origin
ME enke < OFr enque < LL encaustum < Gr enkauston, purple or red ink < enkaustos, burned in < enkaiein, to burn in < en-, in + kaiein, to burn < IE base *kai- > heat
She opens a page on a series of paragraphs written in red ink.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It was the sort of notice that used capital letters and red ink a lot.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
And there were still three hours of whirling ink drawings to go.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It remains mired in red ink.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Ditto my friend, whose chosen form of memorial is rather more pricey than pen and ink, but just as poetic.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
There is a lot of red ink still to flow.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Nor does the red ink stop there.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The female looks like a copy of the male drawn and shaded in brown ink.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It was so cold the ink in my pen froze.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
No scary letters in green ink please.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
THERE'S a real pen and ink over at Blackburn.
The Sun (2006)
There's something uniquely tactile about the way penned ink appears on a page.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
For fountain pen ink, take care not to spread the stain.
Churchill, Jane (ed.) Collins Complete Books of Soft Furnishings (1993)
Do you have a thing a man could write on, and a pen and ink?
Kerr, Katharine A Time of War (1993)
They're the green ink letters to the press.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
I do a little bit of pen and ink.
The Sun (2014)
Write letters in invisible ink.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Before all the red ink, profits were a modest 62 million.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
From the Dining Room is a line drawing in ink of a landscape seen through a window.
Improve Your Landscape Painting
I urged them to increase the budget, and now we're swimming in red ink.
Christianity Today (2000)
He will take office with the US Government already awash in red ink.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Word lists with
ink
Art equipment
In other languages
ink
British English: ink /ɪŋk/ NOUN
Ink is the coloured liquid used for writing or printing.
The letter was handwritten in black ink.
American English: ink
Arabic: حِبْرٌ
Brazilian Portuguese: tinta
Chinese: 墨
Croatian: tinta
Czech: inkoust
Danish: blæk
Dutch: inkt
European Spanish: tinta
Finnish: muste
French: encre
German: Tinte
Greek: μελάνι
Italian: inchiostro
Japanese: インク
Korean: 잉크
Norwegian: blekk
Polish: atrament
European Portuguese: tinta
Romanian: cerneală
Russian: чернила
Latin American Spanish: tinta
Swedish: bläck
Thai: หมึก
Turkish: mürekkep
Ukrainian: чорнило
Vietnamese: mực viết
All related terms of 'ink'
ink in
to use ink to go over pencil lines in (a drawing)
ink up
to apply ink to (a printing machine) in preparing it for operation
ink bag
a gland near the anus of an octopus or related mollusc that holds fluid ejected into the water for self-concealment
ink-cap
any of several saprotrophic agaricaceous fungi of the genus Coprinus, whose caps disintegrate into a black inky fluid after the spores mature . It includes the shaggy ink-cap ( Coprinus comatus ), also called lawyer's wig , a distinctive fungus having a white cylindrical cap covered with shaggy white or brownish scales
ink jet
a method of printing streams of electrically charged ink
ink pad
a block of firm absorbent material soaked with ink for transferring to a rubber stamp
red ink
a deficit or loss shown in the accounts of a bank , company, etc.
China ink
a black pigment made from a mixture of lampblack and a binding agent such as gelatine or glue : usually formed into solid cakes and sticks
India ink
a black pigment , as of specially prepared lampblack , or carbon black, mixed with a gelatinous substance and dried into cakes or sticks
ink blot
a stain on paper, made by ink
ink stain
a mark made by ink
Chinese ink
a black pigment made from a mixture of lampblack and a binding agent such as gelatine or glue : usually formed into solid cakes and sticks
copying ink
a special ink used for writing when copies by impression are to be taken
Indian ink
a black pigment made from a mixture of lampblack and a binding agent such as gelatine or glue : usually formed into solid cakes and sticks
ink bottle
a bottle containing ink
ink eraser
an eraser for removing ink
ink roller
a roller impregnated with ink used in printing
ink rubber
an eraser for removing ink
marking ink
indelible ink used for marking linen , clothes, etc
invisible ink
a liquid used for writing that does not become visible until it has been treated with chemicals , heat, ultraviolet light, etc
magnetic ink
ink containing particles of a magnetic material used for printing characters for magnetic character recognition
printer's ink
a type of quick-drying ink used in printing
printing ink
a type of quick-drying ink used in printing
electronic ink
a material consisting of microscopic cells that can be turned from white to black and vice versa with the application of a small electric charge allowing electronically stored text to appear on a paper-like substance
pen and ink
A pen and ink drawing is done using a pen rather than a pencil.
sympathetic ink
→ invisible ink
bleed red ink
to have severe financial problems
ink blot test
a personality test consisting of a number of unstructured ink blots presented for interpretation
inking-pad
a block of firm absorbent material soaked with ink for transferring to a rubber stamp
inkpad
a block of firm absorbent material soaked with ink for transferring to a rubber stamp
pad
A pad is a fairly thick, flat piece of a material such as cloth or rubber. Pads are used, for example, to clean things, to protect things, or to change their shape.
ink-jet printer
a machine that prints using a method of printing streams of electrically charged ink
ink-jet printing
a high-speed typing or printing process in which charged droplets of ink issuing from nozzles are directed onto paper under computer control
inkstain
a mark made by ink
pen-and-ink drawing
a drawing that is done using a pen rather than a pencil
stamp pad
a thick piece of soft material used to make something comfortable , give it shape, or protect it
magnetic ink character recognition
the process of reading characters printed in magnetic ink
MICR
magnetic ink character recognition
MICR encoding
The MICR encoding of a check is the magnetic ink pattern at the bottom that can be scanned and that contains information about the check.