Wink v. i. [imp. & p. p. Winked p. pr. & vb. n. Winking.]
1. To nod; to sleep; to nap. [Obs.] “Although I wake or wink.”
2. To shut the eyes quickly; to close the eyelids with a quick motion.
He must wink, so loud he would cry. --Chaucer.
And I will wink, so shall the day seem night. --Shak.
They are not blind, but they wink. --Tillotson.
3. To close and open the eyelids quickly; to nictitate; to blink.
A baby of some three months old, who winked, and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day. --Hawthorne.
4. To give a hint by a motion of the eyelids, often those of one eye only.
Wink at the footman to leave him without a plate. --Swift.
5. To avoid taking notice, as if by shutting the eyes; to connive at anything; to be tolerant; -- generally with at.
The times of this ignorance God winked at. --Acts xvii. 30.
And yet, as though he knew it not,
His knowledge winks, and lets his humors reign. --Herbert.
Obstinacy can not be winked at, but must be subdued. --Locke.
6. To be dim and flicker; as, the light winks.
Winking monkey Zool., the white-nosed monkey (Cersopithecus nictitans).