WINK, verb intransitive [G. wink and wince are radically one word.] 1. To shut the eyes; to close the eyelids. They are not blind, but they wink 2. To close and open the eyelids. 3. To give a hint by a motion of the eyelids. WINK at the footman to leave him without a plate. 4. To close the eyelids and exclude the light. Or wink as cowards and afraid. 5. To be dim; as a winking light. To wink at, to connive at; to seem not to see; to tolerate; to overlook, as something not perfectly agreeable; as, to wink at faults. WINK, noun 1. The act of closing the eyelids. I lay awake, and could not sleep a wink I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink 2. A hint given by shutting the eye with a significant cast.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI