[f. CLINK v.1 + -ING2.]
1. That clinks or tinkles. (In quot. 1856 there may be a reference to CLINKER sb.1 4.)
1714. Gay, Trivia, Poems 1745, I. 143. Safe thro’ the wet on clinking pattens tread.
1760. Goldsm., Cit. World, lxxxv. Ye dear three clinking shillings in my pocket’s bottom.
1856. R. Vaughan, Mystics (1860), II. XIII. iii. 272. He stood upon the shoulder of a volcano, among the clinking scoriæ.
1871. Palgrave, Lyr. Poems, 10. The clinking bell, Far off, yet nigh.
2. slang. Used intensively, as adj. or adv., like chopping, clipping, whacking, rattling, etc.
1868. Daily Tel., 6 June, 3/1. His conqueror, Vermouth, was a clinking good horse.
1876. Daily News, 28 Oct., 6/4. There was a clinking finish for the Feather Plate.
1880. L. J. Jennings, Rambles among Hills, 95. The driver … declared that it [the bridge] was a ‘clinkin’ good one.’
