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fink

 - 5 dictionary results

fink

  [fingk] Slang.
Use fink in a Sentence
–noun
1. a strikebreaker.
2. a labor spy.
3. an informer; stool pigeon.
4. a contemptible or thoroughly unattractive person.
–verb (used without object)
5. to inform to the police; squeal.
6. to act as a strikebreaker; scab.
—Verb phrase
7. fink out,
a. to withdraw from or refuse to support a project, activity, scheme, etc.; renege: He said he'd lend me his motorcycle, but he finked out.
b. to become untrustworthy.
Origin:
1900–05, Americanism; compared with G Fink lit., finch, colloquial epithet for an undesirable person, esp. an untidy or loose-living one (often in compounds, as Duckfink sycophant, Schmierfink untidy writer); but the transmission of this word to E and the range of meanings of the E word have not been clarified fully
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To fink
fink   (fĭngk)   
n.  

  1. A contemptible person.

  2. An informer.

  3. A hired strikebreaker.

intr.v.   finked, fink·ing, finks

  1. To inform against another person.

  2. To withhold promised support or participation: They said they'd help us, but then finked out.


[Origin unknown.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
fink [fɪŋk]

  1. n.
    an informer; a stool (pigeon). (From Pinkerton. See also rat fink.) : Taylor has turned into a fink. She can't be trusted.

  2. Go to fink (on (so) ). :
  3. n.
    any strange or undesirable person. : You are being such a fink. Stop it!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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fink (on (so))

  1. in.
    to inform on someone. : Rocko never finks on his friends.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

fink 
1902, of uncertain origin, possibly from Ger. Fink "a frivolous or dissolute person," originally "finch," which also gave it another sense of "informer" (cf. stool pigeon). The other theory traces it to Pinks, short for Pinkerton agents, the private police force hired to break up the 1892 Homestead strike.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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