tinkle

See also: Tinkle

English

From Middle English tinclen, equivalent to tink +‎ -le (frequentative suffix).

tinkle (third-person singular simple present tinkles, present participle tinkling, simple past and past participle tinkled)

(intransitive) To make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.
The glasses tinkled together as they were placed on the table.
- 1753, Robert Dodsley, Agriculture
  The sprightly horse / Moves to the music of his tinkling bells.
(transitive) To cause to tinkle.
(transitive) To indicate, signal, etc. by tinkling.
The butler tinkled dinner.
To hear, or resound with, a small, sharp sound.
- 1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415:
  And his ears tinkled, and the colour fled.
(intransitive, informal) To urinate.

to make light metallic sounds

Bulgarian: звънтя (bg) (zvǎntja)
Finnish: kilistä (fi); kilahtaa (fi) (once); kilahdella (fi) (once every now and then)
French: tinter (fr)
Galician: tinguelear
German: klingeln (de), klimpern (de)
Maori: ngaehe, ngahehe
Norman: tînter
Portuguese: tinir (pt)
Russian: бренча́ть (ru) impf (brenčátʹ), звене́ть (ru) impf (zvenétʹ), дребезжа́ть (ru) impf (drebezžátʹ)

to cause to tinkle

Finnish: kilistää (fi); kilistellä (fi) (repeatedly); kilauttaa (fi) (once); kilautella (once every now and then)
Norman: tînter

to indicate by tinkling

to hear, or resound with, a small, sharp sound

to urinate — see urinate

tinkle (plural tinkles)

A light metallic sound, resembling the tinkling of bells or wind chimes.
- 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 97:
  She laughed, her voice a tinkle in the silence of the circular chamber.
- 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:
  At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. . . . There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.
(UK, informal) A telephone call.
Synonyms: call, ring
Give me a tinkle when you arrive.
(informal, euphemistic) An act of urination.
(euphemistic) Urine.

light metallic sound

informal: phone call

euphemistic: act of urination