pink

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from Dutch pincken (“blink”) or the English verb pink from the same source. Perhaps from the notion of the petals being pinked.

noun

1. (color) A colour between red and white; pale red.
   My new dress is a wonderful shade of pink.
   pink:
   light pink:
2. Any of various flowers of that colour in the genus Dianthus, sometimes called carnations.
   This garden in particular has a beautiful bed of pinks.
3. (dated) A perfect example; excellence, perfection; the embodiment of some quality.
   Your hat, madam, is the very pink of fashion.
4. Hunting pink; scarlet, as worn by hunters.
   I had taken it for granted that there would be people ‘in pink’, but these enormous confident strangers overwhelmed me with the visible authenticity of their brick-red coats. 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 23
   it is interesting to note the curious legend that the pink of the hunting field is not due to any optical advantage but to an entirely different reason. 1986, Michael J. O'Shea, James Joyce and Heraldry, SUNY, page 69
5. (snooker">snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker">snooker, coloured pink, with a value of 6 points.
   Oh dear, he's left himself snookered behind the pink.
6. (slang) An unlettered and uncultured, but relatively prosperous, member of the middle classes; compare Babbitt, bourgeoisie.
7. Alternative form of pinko
   My own guess is that there are some pinks in the State Department and in other government departments and agencies, and of course they should be found and ousted; but it seems to me that this can be done without besmirching innocent people and without making such broadside charges that people will lose faith in all government. 1981, Edwin R. Bayley, quoting Ben Hibbs, Joe McCarthy and the Press, page 163
8. (slang) The vagina or vulva.
   Then Eddie did what he calls, 'Two in the pink, one in the stink.' “I held up my right forefinger and middle finger and said, “Two.” Then I held up my ring finger and said “One. Two in the pussy, one in the ass.” 2020-03-23, Mike Hatch, The Dumb Class: Boomer Junior High, Mike Hatch H&A Publishing, page 78

adj

1. Having a colour between red and white; pale red.
2. Of a fox-hunter's jacket: scarlet.
3. Having conjunctivitis.
4. (obsolete) By comparison to red (communist), describing someone who sympathizes with the ideals of communism without actually being a Russian-style communist: a pinko.
   The word "socialist" has so many connotations that it can cover almost anything from pink liberalism to red-red communism. 1976, Bhalchandra Pundlik Adarkar, The Future of the Constitution: A Critical Analysis
5. (informal) Relating to women or girls.
   pink-collar
   pink job
6. (informal) Relating to homosexuals as a group within society.
   the pink economy
   pink pound
   pink dollar
   pink triangle

verb

1. (intransitive) To become pink in color, to redden.
   The woman’s pale skin pinked as she shook her head. “No. It’s out of my budget. Come on, Sammy” 2014, Teresa Carpenter, Her Boss by Arrangement, page 136
2. (transitive) To turn (something) pink.
   They are all nearly nude, pinked and bronzed by the sun. 1961, Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana, New Directions Publishing, published 2009, act II, page 46
   The rabbits, still lining the roadside, but now pinked by dawn, craned their necks to follow her departure. 1985, Carl Sagan, chapter 3, in Contact, Simon & Schuster, published 1997, page 57
3. (transitive) To turn (a topaz or other gemstone) pink by the application of heat.
   Because heating is relatively easy to perform once one is trained to do it, it can be assumed that any pink topaz from Brazil, the gem’s main modern producer, is colored more by man than nature.[…] Relatively few stones from Brazil have this trace element in enough quantity for what dealers call “pinking.” 2012, David Federman, Modern Jeweler’s Consumer Guide to Colored Gemstones, page 227

Etymology 2

Unknown. Some lexicographers suggest comparison to regional German Pinke (“minnow; small salmon”), but this is not widely accepted.

noun

1. (regional) The common minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus.
2. (regional) A young Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, before it becomes a smolt; a parr.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Middle Dutch pincke.

noun

1. (now obsolete) A narrow boat.

Etymology 4

Probably from Dutch pingelen (“to do fine needlework”) or Low German [Term?]; compare Low German pinken (“hit, peck”) and Pinke (“big needle”).

verb

1. To decorate a piece of clothing or fabric by adding holes or by scalloping the fringe.
2. To prick with a sword.
   Within three seconds D'Artagnan pinked him thrice, dedicating each thrust as he dealt it. “One for Athos!" he cried. “One for Porthos!" and at the last, “one for Aramis!” 1999 [1844], Jacques Le Clercq, The Three Musketeers, translation of original by Alexandre Dumas, page 187
3. To wound by irony, criticism, or ridicule.

noun

1. (obsolete) A small hole made by puncturing something, as with a rapier, dagger, or pinking iron.
   1. (obsolete) A small hole or puncture made by a sharp, slender instrument such as a rapier, poniard or dagger, or (by extension) a bullet; a stab.
      At a great word she will her poynard draw, Looke for the pincke if once thou giue the lye. 1601, Weever, Mirr. Mart., C j
      A freebooter’s pink, sir, three or four inches deep. 1607, Thomas Middleton, Your Five Gallants, iii 5
      The fellow's a shrewd fellow at a pink. 1638, “Lady's Trial”, in Ford, III. i
      He is spotted with marks of stabs and revolver 'pinks', and he takes all his wounds quite as matter of course. May 13 1885, Pall Mall G., 4/I
   2. (obsolete) A small hole or eyelet punched in a garment for decoration, as with a pinking iron; a scallop.
      Item,..for iiil* powdringis and pinkis to the sam goune, .xij s 1512, Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot, IV 215
      small pinks, cuts or iagges in clothes 1598, Florio, Tagliuzzi
      Is this pinke of equall proportion to this cut? 1599, Ben Jonson, Cynthia's Rev., volume iv
      You had rather have / An ulcer in your body than a pink / More in your clothes. c. 1632–1641, Ben Jonson, Magnetick Lady, iii. 4

Etymology 5

Onomatopoeic.

verb

1. Of a motor car, to emit a high "pinking" noise, usually as a result of ill-set ignition timing for the fuel used (in a spark ignition engine).
2. Of a musical instrument, to sound a very high-pitched, short note.
   And then the record changed, a piano pinking high a Poulenc-like theme. 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 590

Etymology 6

Borrowed from Dutch pinken.

verb

1. (obsolete) To wink; to blink.
   A Hungry Fox that had got a Cock in his Eye, and could not tell how to come at him ; cast himself at his Length upon the Ground, and there he lay winking and pinking as if he had Sore Eyes. 1692, Roger L'Estrange, “A Fox and a Cock”, in Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists, page 409

adj

1. (obsolete) Half-shut; winking.

Etymology 7

Unknown. Attested from the late 15th century.

noun

1. (historical) Any of various lake pigments or dyes in yellow, yellowish green, or brown shades made with plant coloring and a metallic oxide base.
   To make Dutch pink, boil the stems of woad in a solution of alum, and then mix the liquor with clay, marl, or chalk, which will become mixed with the colour of the decoction 1816, Pierre François Tingry, The Painter and Varnisher's Guide, page 245
   Carlyle (2001) lists from her study of nineteenth century British documentary sources yellow carmine, Dutch pink, English pink and yellow lake in descending order of intensity. 2008, Nicholas Eastaugh, Valentine Walsh, Tracey Chaplin, Pigment Compendium, page 156