tiddlywink
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtɪdəlɪwɪŋk/, /ˈtɪdlɪ-/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtɪdliˌwɪŋk/
- Hyphenation: tid‧dly‧wink
Etymology 1
Sense 1 (“unlicensed beerhouse or pawnshop”) and sense 2 (“alcoholic drink”) are possibly related to tiddly (“(noun) alcoholic beverage; (adjective) somewhat drunk”).[1]
Noun
tiddlywink (plural tiddlywinks) (UK, archaic or obsolete)
- (dialectal, slang) An unlicensed beerhouse or pawnshop.
- Synonym: kiddlywink
- Hyponym: leaving shop
- (Cockney rhyming slang) An alcoholic drink.
- (games) A game played using dominoes.
Etymology 2
The noun is possibly derived from tiddly (“(informal) little, tiny”) + wink (“blinking of one eye”), perhaps borrowed from etymology 1.[2] The game, now called tiddlywinks, was patented by a British bank clerk, Joseph Assheton Fincher (1863–1900), on 19 October 1889,[3] and the name Tiddledy-Winks trademarked by him the same year.[4]
The verb is derived from the noun.
Noun
tiddlywink (plural tiddlywinks)
- (tiddlywinks) A small disc used in the game of tiddlywinks; (by extension) a similar disc or counter used in other games.
- Synonym: wink
Translations
Verb
tiddlywink (third-person singular simple present tiddlywinks, present participle tiddlywinking, simple past and past participle tiddlywinked) (intransitive)
- Especially of something disc-shaped: to flip over like a disc used in the game of tiddlywinks.
- To play tiddlywinks.
Derived terms
- tiddlywinker
- tiddlywinking (adjective, noun)
References
- “tiddlywink, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022. - Compare “tiddlywink, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- Joseph Assheton Fincher (filed 8 November 1888) Provisional Specification. A New and Improved Game (no. 16,215), London: […] [F]or Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, by Darling & Son, Ltd., published 1889, reproduced at “Tiddledy-Winks Patent: 1888, Joseph Assheton Fincher”, in Tiddlywinks.org, updated 8 February 2019, archived from the original on 2021-02-24.
- “TIDDLEDY-WINKS”, in The Trade Marks Journal, issue 581, London: Patent Office, filed 29 January 1889, approved 15 May 1889, OCLC 2447283, page 476.
Further reading
tiddlywinks on Wikipedia.Wikipedia