Library / English Dictionary

TINKLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A light clear metallic sound as of a small bell

Synonyms:

ting; tinkle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make or emit a high sound

Example:

tinkling bells

Synonyms:

chink; clink; tink; tinkle

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

As Meg went rustling after, with her long skirts trailing, her earrings tinkling, her curls waving, and her heart beating, she felt as if her fun had really begun at last, for the mirror had plainly told her that she was 'a little beauty'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved.

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

I saw them smile, laugh—it was nothing; the light of the candles had as much soul in it as their smile; the tinkle of the bell as much significance as their laugh.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Often I had to lose sight of it on account of the tangled brush-wood, but I was always within earshot of its tinkle and splash.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dashing at the black man, he smote at him with such good will that the other let his knife tinkle into the roadway, and hopped howling to a safer distance.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then it was that Martin wore his overcoat down into Oakland, and came back without it, but with five dollars tinkling in his pocket.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There was a bell beside the gate, and Dorothy pushed the button and heard a silvery tinkle sound within.

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

That evening calm betrayed alike the tinkle of the nearest streams, the sough of the most remote.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Next instant, however, his blade had slipped into the fatal notch, there was a sharp cracking sound with a tinkling upon the ground, and he found a splintered piece of steel fifteen inches long was all that remained to him of his weapon.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Like silver, he thought to himself, like tinkling silver bells; and on the instant, and for an instant, he was transported to a far land, where under pink cherry blossoms, he smoked a cigarette and listened to the bells of the peaked pagoda calling straw-sandalled devotees to worship.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)