chink Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (ethnic slur) offensive term for a person of Chinese descent
    Chinaman.
  2. noun a narrow opening as e.g. between planks in a wall
  3. noun a short light metallic sound
    clink; click.
  4. verb make or emit a high sound
    clink; tink; tinkle.
    • tinkling bells
  5. verb fill the chinks of, as with caulking
  6. verb make cracks or chinks in
    check.
    • The heat checked the paint

WordNet

Chink noun
Etymology
OE. chine, AS. cine fissure, chink, fr. cinan to gape; akin to Goth. Keinan to sprout, G. keimen. Cf. Chit.
Definitions
  1. A small cleft, rent, or fissure, of greater length than breadth; a gap or crack; as, the chinks of wall.
    Through one cloudless chink, in a black, stormy sky. Shines out the dewy morning star. Macaulay.
Chink intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Chinked ; present participle & verbal noun Chinking
Definitions
  1. To crack; to open.
Chink transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cause to open in cracks or fissures.
  2. To fill up the chinks of; as, to chink a wall.
Chink noun
Etymology
Of imitative origin. Cf. Jingle.
Definitions
  1. A short, sharp sound, as of metal struck with a slight degree of violence. "Chink of bell." Cowper.
  2. Money; cash. Cant "To leave his chink to better hands." Somerville.
Chink transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cause to make a sharp metallic sound, as coins, small pieces of metal, etc., by bringing them into collision with each other. Pope.
Chink intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To make a slight, sharp, metallic sound, as by the collision of little pieces of money, or other small sonorous bodies. Arbuthnot.

Webster 1913