TINKLE

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tinkle mean? 

• TINKLE (noun)
  The noun TINKLE has 1 sense:

1. a light clear metallic sound as of a small bell

  Familiarity information: TINKLE used as a noun is very rare.

• TINKLE (verb)
  The verb TINKLE has 1 sense:

1. make or emit a high sound

  Familiarity information: TINKLE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TINKLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A light clear metallic sound as of a small bell

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

ting; tinkle

Hypernyms ("tinkle" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Derivation:

tinkle (make or emit a high sound)

tinkly (like the short high ringing sound of a small bell)

• TINKLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tinkle    ... he / she / it tinkles   
Past simple: tinkled   
Past participle: tinkled   
-ing form: tinkling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make or emit a high sound

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

chink; clink; tink; tinkle

Context example:

tinkling bells

Hypernyms (to "tinkle" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

tinkle (a light clear metallic sound as of a small bell)

 Context examples 

Ere long a bell tinkled, and the curtain drew up.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Within a short time she was walking briskly toward the Emerald City, her silver shoes tinkling merrily on the hard, yellow road-bed.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

“Nor can I marvel at that,” said she, with a little tinkling laugh.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We had hardly settled down in it, and Mrs. Warren left us, when a distant tinkle announced that our mysterious neighbour had rung.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The whips snapped, the bells tinkled merrily, the sleds churned along the trail; but Buck knew, and every dog knew, what had taken place behind the belt of river trees.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

There was a strange, loud whiz and a long, silvery tinkle of broken glass.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A thin, oval-tinted mist formed before my eyes and little silvery bells tinkled in my ears.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He emptied the hundred gold pieces into her lap in a glinting, tinkling stream.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There is the creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan falls into the rachet.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Her mother wished her to learn music; and Catherine was sure she should like it, for she was very fond of tinkling the keys of the old forlorn spinnet; so, at eight years old she began.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)