[Goes with CLINK v.1 Cf. Du. klink.]
1. A sharp abrupt ringing sound, clearer and thinner than a clank, as of small metallic bodies or glasses struck together.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5853. The clynke & þe clamour claterit in þe aire.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., III. iii. (Arb.), 45. He will go darklyng to his graue, Neque lux, neque crux, neque mourners, neque clinke.
1562. Praër, Æneid, VIII. (R.). Yngot gaddes with clashing clinks, In blustrying forges blowne.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. iii. 234. I heard the clinke, and fall of Swords.
1781. Cowper, Truth, 140. Duly at clink of bell to morning prayers.
1857. J. G. Holland, Bay Path, xxviii. 347. Each drop struck the surface with a metallic, musical clink.
1859. Max Müller, Sc. Lang., Ser. II. iii. 103. The lower notes are mere hums, the upper notes mere clinks.
† b. To cry clink: to emit or produce a clink, to have a response. Obs.
1607. Chapman, Bussy d’Ambois, Plays, 1873, II. 10. No man riseth by his reall merit But when it cries Clincke in his Raisers spirit.
1637. W. Cartwright, Royall Slave (N.). And make our hard irons cry clink in the close.
2. Mere assonance of rhyme; jingle.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1717), VI. 101. The senceless, insignificant clink and sound of a few, popular misapplied Words.
1785. Burns, 2nd Epist. Davie, v. Some idle plan O’ rhymin clink.
1824. L. Murray, Eng. Gram., I. 472. Such a construction … produces a regularly returning clink in the period, which tires the ear.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, 78. Some other poet’s clink ‘Thetis and Tethys.’
3. Used imitatively of the sharp note of certain birds: hence Stone-clink, provincial name for the Stonechat (Pratincola rubicola).
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 57. Stonechat … Stone-clink.
1885. St. James’s Gaz., 17 Aug., 6/2. The ‘clink’ of the stonechat.
b. Sc. dial. A tell-tale (Jamieson).
4. dial. A smart sharp blow. [So Du. klink.]
1722. W. Hamilton, Wallace, 35 (Jam.). The yeomen … lighted down; The first miss’d not a clink out o’er his crown.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xv. We must take a clink as it passes, so it is not bestowed in downright ill-will.
1881. Isle of W. Gloss., Clink, a smart blow.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Clink, a smack or blow.
1888. in Berksh. Gloss.
5. colloq. Sc. Money, coin, hard cash; = CHINK 4.
1729. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc., 14. The Warld is rul’d by Asses, And the Wise are sway’d by Clink.
1789. Burns, Let. J. Tennant. May ye get … Monie a laugh, and monie a drink, An’ aye enough o’ needfu’ clink.
c. 1817. Hogg, Tales & Sk., II. 203. Such young ladies as were particularly beautiful … and had the clink.
