noun
winkle
WIHNG-kuhl
noun
1
A periwinkle, a small edible sea snail with a spiral shell.
"They bought a bag of winkles from the seafood stall and ate them with a pin."
2
Any of several other spiral-shelled marine snails resembling the periwinkle.
"The tide pool was full of small winkles clinging to the rocks."
verb
1
To winkle out: to get information, an object, or a person out of somewhere with effort or cunning.
"It took hours to winkle the truth out of him."
"She managed to winkle a confession out of the suspect."
How to Use Winkle
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA small edible sea snail, or (as a verb with "out") to painstakingly extract something.
Common pairings
winkle out
a bag of winkles
Word Forms
winkled past tense, winkles plural, Winkles plural, winkles singular
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Etymology
Shortened from "periwinkle," the name of the small edible sea snail.