From Middle English tinclen, equivalent to tink + -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with West Frisian tinkelje (“to tinkle”), Dutch tinkelen (“to tinkle”), German Low German tinkeln (“to flicker, glitter, sparkle”).
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) A light metallic sound, resembling the tinkling of bells or wind chimes.
The Man's Wife heard the tinkle-tinkle of little stones and loose earth falling off the roadway, and the sliding roar of the man and horse going down. 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “At the Pit's Mouth”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 56:
She laughed, her voice a tinkle in the silence of the circular chamber. 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 97:
At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. . . . There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision. 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:
(UK, countable, informal, uncountable) A telephone call.
Give me a tinkle when you arrive.
(countable, euphemistic, informal, uncountable) An act of urination.
From Middle English tinclen, equivalent to tink + -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with West Frisian tinkelje (“to tinkle”), Dutch tinkelen (“to tinkle”), German Low German tinkeln (“to flicker, glitter, sparkle”).
Meanings
(intransitive) To make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.
With a sound like tinkling bells, far off in a land of shepherds hidden by some hill, the waters of many fountains turned again home. 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods, London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 1:
Outside, the crickets and the tree-frogs started to zing and tinkle and the great hawkmoths came to the wire-netting across the windows and clutched it, gazing with trembling ecstasy at the two oil lamps that hung from the cross-beams inside. 1954, Ian Fleming, “The Undertaker's Wind”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 186:
The glasses tinkled together as they were placed on the table.
The sprightly horse / Moves to the music of his tinkling bells. 1753, Robert Dodsley, Agriculture:
(transitive) To cause to tinkle.
(transitive) To indicate, signal, etc. by tinkling.
The butler tinkled dinner.
To hear, or resound with, a small, sharp sound.
And his ears tinkled, and the colour fled. 1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
cs cinkat (to cause to tinkle) · gl tinguelear (to make light metallic sounds) · fi kilistä (to make light metallic sounds) · fi kilistellä (to cause to tinkle) · cs zacinkat (to make light metallic sounds) · ru дребезжа́ть (to make light metallic sounds) · izh trilissä (to make light metallic sounds) · fi soida (to hear, or resound with, a small, sharp sound) · de klimpern (to make light metallic sounds) · izh kilissä (to make light metallic sounds) · fi kilahtaa (to make light metallic sounds) · fr tinter (to make light metallic sounds) · de klingeln (to make light metallic sounds) · mi ngahehe (to make light metallic sounds) · ru звене́ть (to make light metallic sounds) · cs zacinkat (to cause to tinkle) · fi kilistää (to indicate by tinkling) · bg звънтя (to make light metallic sounds) · fi kilauttaa (to cause to tinkle) · fi kilistää (to cause to tinkle) · ru бренча́ть (to make light metallic sounds) · nrf tînter (to make light metallic sounds) · bg звъня (to indicate by tinkling) · nrf tînter (to cause to tinkle) · cs cinkat (to make light metallic sounds) · fi kilahdella (to make light metallic sounds) · pt tinir (to make light metallic sounds) · fi kilautella (to cause to tinkle) · bg дрънча (to hear, or resound with, a small, sharp sound) · mi ngaehe (to make light metallic sounds)