English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪŋkəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋkəl

Verb[edit]

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

1. (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.

   • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods‎^[1], London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 1:

     With a sound like tinkling bells, far off in a land of shepherds hidden by some hill, the waters of many fountains turned again home.

2. (transitive) To cause to tinkle.
3. (transitive) To indicate, signal, etc. by tinkling.

   The butler tinkled dinner.

4. 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:

     And his ears tinkled, and the colour fled.

5. (intransitive, informal) To urinate.

Synonyms[edit]

• (urinate): See Thesaurus:urinate

Derived terms[edit]

• atinkle
• tinkle-down
• tinkle the ivories

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

tinkle (countable and uncountable, plural tinkles)

1. 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.

2. (UK, informal) A telephone call.

   Synonyms: call, ring

   Give me a tinkle when you arrive.

3. (informal, euphemistic) An act of urination.
4. (informal, euphemistic) Urine. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Translations[edit]