dinky1
/ˈdɪŋki
/adjective (dinkier, dinkiest) informal
1British (Of an object or place) attractively small and neat: a dinky little restaurant...
- The white-bread show was nearly cancelled at the end of its last season, having shed viewers like those pretty autumn leaves you see in the dinky town of Stars Hollow, where it's set.
- We had lunch in their dinky little restaurant, and figured that we were the youngest people there, by a margin of about forty years.
- As for refreshment of the liquid sort, walk down Belmont Street, just off Union Street, and you'll find yourself in dinky bar heaven.
Synonyms
small, little, petite, dainty, diminutive, mini, miniature, fun-size;
cute, neat, trim, dear, adorable;
Scottish wee
informal teeny, teeny weeny, teensy-weensy, adorbs
North American informal little-bitty
2North American Disappointingly small; insignificant: I can’t believe the dinky salaries they pay here...
- ‘If I can do all this from a little dinky office with no funding,’ he exclaims, ‘imagine what the FBI could do!’
- When I recently rammed the rear of a dinky Toyota on the Ventura Freeway, I bent it up pretty badly.
- This isn't a dinky log jump we're talking about; it's big air with even bigger consequences, so you've got to be certain you can clear the gap before you launch.
Origin
Late 18th century: from Scots and northern English dialect dink 'neat, trim', of unknown origin.
In Scottish and northern English dialect dink meant ‘neatly dressed, spruce, trim’. Its origins are unknown, and it remained restricted to northern Britain. But from the late 18th century its derivative dinky spread: throughout Britain it means ‘attractively small and neat’, in the USA ‘disappointingly small, insignificant’. In 1934 Dinky toys appeared, and these small but perfectly formed model cars are probably the first thing that come to many people's minds when they hear the word.
Rhymes
dinky2
/ˈdɪŋki/noun (plural dinkies) informal
A partner in a well-off working couple with no children.They're dinkies, and she works on lots of temporary contracts so she gets to spend a lot of the winter up there....
- "They're dinkies," Doyle nodded across the aisle.
- No kiddies, old man. Not yet, anyway. Just a couple dinkies, that's us.
Origin
1980s: acronym from double income, no kids, on the pattern of yuppy.
Dinky3
/ˈdɪŋki/noun [as modifier] trademark
Denoting a miniature motor vehicle of die-cast metal.For example, a die-cast Dinky lorry that sold for less than £1 in 1950 fetched £12,000 earlier this year....
- I undid the paper and stuffed in Dinky cars, Transformers and some of my favourite Star Wars figures.
- Mind you, my generation has survived and we even had toys such as lead soldiers and Dinky cars which also were made of some or other alloy, a bit of lead too maybe.