winkle

Etymology 1

Short for periwinkle.

noun

1. A periwinkle or its shell, of family Littorinidae.
   […] because the inward Eare is intorted like a winkle-shell, and hangeth as a bell in thee steeple of the body, it easily perceiueth all appulsions of the Ayre. 1615, Helkiah Crooke, Mikrokosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man, London: William Jaggard, Book 8, Chapter 25, p. 610
   Shrimps and winkles are the staple commodities of the afternoon trade, which lasts from three to half-past five in the evening. These articles are generally bought by the working-classes for their tea. 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, London: G. Newbold, page 64
   Briony was on her knees, trying to put her arms round Lola and gather her to her, but the body was bony and unyielding, wrapped tight about itself like a seashell. A winkle. 2001, Ian McEwan, chapter 13, in Atonement, Toronto: Vintage Canada
2. Any one of various marine spiral gastropods, especially, in the United States, either of two species Busycotypus canaliculatus and Busycon carica.
   There were also found fragments of the winkle (Fulgar carica). 1912, Daniel Melancthon Tredwell, Personal Reminiscences of Men and Things on Long Island
   The conchs or winkles, Busycon carica (fig. 204, opp. p. 216) and B. canaliculata, ... He gave the estimate of one planter who believed that one winkle was able to destroy a bushel of oysters in a single hour. 1931, Bureau of Fisheries Document, volume 922, page 217
   In Connecticut, the so-called "winkle" chowder is made from B. [Busycon] canaliculatum. 1969, Frank E. Firth, The encyclopedia of marine resources, page 139
3. (children's slang) The penis, especially that of a boy rather than that of a man.
   After all, he didn't want his winkle to get so big it became unruly and unnatural. 2004, Robert Priest, How to Swallow a Pig

Etymology 2

verb

1. Synonym of winkle out (“to acquire or extract with difficulty”)