Dictionary

crinkler en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɹɪŋk.lə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈkrɪŋk.lɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

From crinkle + -er. The diaper lover sense is from the plastic backing which many disposable adult diapers have, which makes a crinkling sound; compare crinklebutt and crinklecritter.

Meanings

1. (uncommon) Something that crinkles.
   • The general idea was to write the amount in ink and then run or stamp over it with a crinkler which so roughened the paper that alterations seemed impossible. However, it was soon found that the check man laid such checks ona glass andsmoothed down the ruffling. 1920 May 1, Edward H. Smith, “Your Check”, in George Horace Lorimer, editor, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 192, number 44, The Curtis Publishing Company, page 124:
   • The brass comes to Oxford in these rolls from the metal mills in Birmingham. The rolls are passed through crinklers, then the crinkled brass is planished, it is cut into correct length, seamed and packed into groups or sets. 1930 September 4, “Henry Ford Gives Europe A Shock”, in The China Mail, number 27,584, page 11:
   • The barber set to work with scissors and clippers, electric buzzers and pruning shears. Then he tried crinklers and curlers, hair stretchers and even his X-ray blowgun. A crowd began to gather. Elmo was embarrassed by all the attention. "It's just a haircut," he said. 1990, Mark Teague, Moog-Moog, Space Barber, Scholastic Corporation, →ISBN, unnumbered page:
   • Using a paper crinkler on metal gives some really exciting effects. Buy the strongest one that you can. Start by cutting the metal into long strips and putting them through the crinkler. 2004, Maggie Grey, Jane Wild, “Paper crinkler”, in Paper, Metal, and Stitch: Creating Surfaces with Color and Texture publisher=Interweave Press, →ISBN, page 77:
   • In my exploration of using a crinkler to crinkle, I am looking at what happens to a variety of material when placed between the two heated metal plates of a hair crinkler. 2013 January 31, Elizabeth Emery, “SCULPTURE: Crinkling with a hair crinkler”, in Blogspot:
   • He brought them up only recently, roasted them for about an hour and one-half in a slow oven, at 250 degrees, on a baking sheet, and then ground the beans in a wheat crinkler. 1943 March 14, Dorothy Holmes, “Home-Grown Coffee”, in L. Bush-Brown, editor, The Farmer's Digest, volume 6, number 10, pages 81-82:
2. (archaic, colloquial) Someone that crinkles.
   • The wrapper-crinkler, the squirmer, the know-it-all—they all show up in Small Mouth Sounds, a new play that brings the ins and outs of retreat to the stage. 2015 April 20, Joan Duncan Oliver, “A Raucous Silence”, in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review:
   • Laundry-workers, we read, need different temperaments according to the departments in which they are employed. An expert collar-crinkler, for instance, might lack the dash necessary in the shirt-ripping room. 1927 March 23, Punch, or The London Charivari, volume 172, published 14 June 1927, page 309:
   • Sense of audience participation is strong even among the more phlegmatic audiences in England, where each person tends to view those others round their seats merely as sniffers, shufflers, paper crinklers, or as obstructionists who block out most of the view. 1958, Anthony Smith, Sea Never Dry, George Allen and Unwin, page 115:
   • I've never been a big fan of nose crinklers, but she did it in a way that was so cute I had trouble believing that that crinkled nose was on the face of a lawyer for a major corporation. 1992, David Charnee, To Kill a Clown, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 89:
3. (colloquial, rare) Something that makes a crinkling sound.
4. (slang, uncommon) A diaper lover, especially a furry (a diaperfur).

Forms