ink Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a liquid used for printing or writing or drawing
  2. noun dark protective fluid ejected into the water by cuttlefish and other cephalopods
  3. verb append one's signature to
    • They inked the contract
  4. verb mark, coat, cover, or stain with ink
    • he inked his finger
  5. verb fill with ink
    • ink a pen

WordNet

Ink noun
Definitions
  1. (Mach.) The step, or socket, in which the lower end of a millstone spindle runs.
Ink noun
Etymology
OE. enke, inke, OF. enque, F. encre, L. encaustum the purple red ink with which the Roman emperors signed their edicts, Gr. , fr. burnt in, encaustic, fr. to burn in. See Encaustic, Caustic.
Definitions
  1. A fluid, or a viscous material or preparation of various kinds (commonly black or colored), used in writing or printing.
    Make there a prick with ink. Chaucer.
    Deformed monsters, foul and black as ink. Spenser.
  2. A pigment. See India ink, under India. ✍ Ordinarily, black ink is made from nutgalls and a solution of some salt of iron, and consists essentially of a tannate or gallate of iron; sometimes indigo sulphate, or other coloring matter,is added. Other black inks contain potassium chromate, and extract of logwood, salts of vanadium, etc. Blue ink is usually a solution of Prussian blue. Red ink was formerly made from carmine (cochineal), Brazil wood, etc., but potassium eosin is now used. Also red, blue, violet, and yellow inks are largely made from aniline dyes. Indelible ink is usually a weak solution of silver nitrate, but carbon in the form of lampblack or India ink, salts of molybdenum, vanadium, etc., are also used. Sympathetic inks may be made of milk, salts of cobalt, etc. See Sympathetic ink (below).
Ink transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Inked present participle & verbal noun Inking
Definitions
  1. To put ink upon; to supply with ink; to blacken, color, or daub with ink.

Webster 1913