pink definition | Dictionary.com

pink

1 [pingk]

noun, adjective, -er, -est.

–noun

1.	a color varying from light crimson to pale reddish purple.

2.	any of several plants of the genus Dianthus, as the clove pink or carnation. Compare pink family.

3.	the flower of such a plant; carnation.

4.	the highest form or degree; prime: a runner in the pink of condition.

5.	(often initial capital letter) Also, pinko. Slang: Disparaging. a person with left-wing, but not extreme, political opinions.

6.	Business Informal. a carbon copy, as of a sales slip or invoice, made on pink tissue paper.

pinks,

a.	Fox Hunting. pink coat.

b.	pinkish-tan gabardine trousers formerly worn by military officers as part of the dress uniform.

8.	the scarlet color of hunting pinks.

–adjective

9.	of the color pink: pink marble.

10.	Slang: Disparaging. holding, or regarded as holding, mildly leftist views, esp. in politics.

—Idiom

11.	tickled pink. tickle (def. 10).

Origin:
1565–75; orig. uncert.

Related forms:

pinkness, noun

pink

2 [pingk]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to pierce with a rapier or the like; stab.

2.	to finish at the edge with a scalloped, notched, or other ornamental pattern.

3.	to punch (cloth, leather, etc.) with small holes or figures for ornament.

4.	Chiefly British Dialect. to adorn or ornament, esp. with scalloped edges or a punched-out pattern.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME pynken to prick, deriv. of OE pinca point, itself deriv. of pinn pin

pink

3 [pingk]

–noun

a vessel with a pink stern.

Also, pinky.

Compare pink stern.

Origin:
1425–75; late ME pinck < MD pinke fishing boat

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To pink

pink¹ (pĭngk)

Any of a group of colors reddish in hue, of medium to high lightness, and of low to moderate saturation.
1. Any of various plants of the genus Dianthus, such as the carnation and sweet William, often cultivated for their showy fragrant flowers.
2. Any of various other plants, such as the wild pink and the moss pink.
3. A flower of any of these plants.
4. Light-colored trousers formerly worn as part of the winter semidress uniform by U.S. Army officers.
5. The scarlet coat worn by fox hunters.
The highest or best degree: in the pink of health.
pinks
1. Light-colored trousers formerly worn as part of the winter semidress uniform by U.S. Army officers.
2. The scarlet coat worn by fox hunters.
Slang A pinko.
A pink salmon

adj. pink·er, pink·est

Of the color pink.
Slang Having moderately leftist political opinions.

[Origin unknown.]
pink'ness n.

pink² (pĭngk)

tr.v. pinked, pink·ing, pinks

To stab lightly with a pointed weapon; prick.
To decorate with a perforated pattern.
To cut with pinking shears.

[Middle English pingen, pinken, to push, prick, from Old English pyngan, from Latin pungere; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.]

pink³ (pĭngk)

n. pl. pinks also pink·ies Nautical
A small sailing vessel with a sharply narrowed stern and an overhanging transom.

[Middle English, from Middle Dutch pinke.]

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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Pink

Pink\, n. [D. pink.] (Naut.) A vessel with a very narrow stern; -- called also pinky. --Sir W. Scott.

Pink stern (Naut.), a narrow stern.

Pink

Pink\, v. i. [D. pinken, pinkoogen, to blink, twinkle with the eyes.] To wink; to blink. [Obs.] --L'Estrange.

Pink

Pink\, a. Half-shut; winking. [Obs.] --Shak.

Pink

Pink\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pinked; p. pr. & vb. n. Pinking.] [OE. pinken to prick, probably a nasalized form of pick.]

1. To pierce with small holes; to cut the edge of, as cloth or paper, in small scallops or angles.

2. To stab; to pierce as with a sword. --Addison.

3. To choose; to cull; to pick out. [Obs.] --Herbert.

Pink

Pink\, n. A stab. --Grose.

Pink

Pink\, n. [Perh. akin to pick; as if the edges of the petals were picked out. Cf. Pink, v. t.]

1. (Bot.) A name given to several plants of the caryophyllaceous genus Dianthus, and to their flowers, which are sometimes very fragrant and often double in cultivated varieties. The species are mostly perennial herbs, with opposite linear leaves, and handsome five-petaled flowers with a tubular calyx.

2. A color resulting from the combination of a pure vivid red with more or less white; -- so called from the common color of the flower. --Dryden.

3. Anything supremely excellent; the embodiment or perfection of something. "The very pink of courtesy." --Shak.

4. (Zo["o]l.) The European minnow; -- so called from the color of its abdomen in summer. [Prov. Eng.]

Bunch pink is Dianthus barbatus.

China, or Indian, pink. See under China.

Clove pink is Dianthus Caryophyllus, the stock from which carnations are derived.

Garden pink. See Pheasant's eye.

Meadow pink is applied to Dianthus deltoides; also, to the ragged robin.

Maiden pink, Dianthus deltoides.

Moss pink. See under Moss.

Pink needle, the pin grass; -- so called from the long, tapering points of the carpels. See Alfilaria.

Sea pink. See Thrift.

Pink

Pink\, a. Resembling the garden pink in color; of the color called pink (see 6th Pink, 2); as, a pink dress; pink ribbons.

Pink eye (Med.), a popular name for an epidemic variety of ophthalmia, associated with early and marked redness of the eyeball.

Pink salt (Chem. & Dyeing), the double chlorides of (stannic) tin and ammonium, formerly much used as a mordant for madder and cochineal.

Pink saucer, a small saucer, the inner surface of which is covered with a pink pigment.

Language Translation for : pink

Spanish: rosa,

German: rosa,

Japanese: ピンク

More Translations »

pink (n., adj.)

1573, common name of Dianthus, a garden plant of various colors. Attribution to "pale rose color" first recorded 1733 (pink-coloured is recorded from 1681). The plant name is perhaps from pink (v.) via notion of "perforated" petals, or from Du. pink "small" (see pinkie), from the term pinck oogen "half-closed eyes," lit. "small eyes," which was borrowed into Eng. (1575) and may have been used as a name for Dianthus, which sometimes has pale red flowers. The flower meaning led to a fig. use for "the flower" or finest example of anything (e.g. Mercutio's "Nay, I am the very pinck of curtesie," Rom. & Jul. II.iv.61). Pink slip "discharge notice" is first recorded 1915. Pink-eye "contagious eye infection" first recorded 1882, Amer.Eng. Pink collar in reference to jobs generally held by women first attested 1977. To see pink elephants "hallucinate from alcoholism" first recorded 1913 in Jack London's "John Barleycorn."

pink (v.)

c.1307, "pierce, stab, make holes in," perhaps from a Romanic stem *pinc- (cf. Fr. piquer, Sp. picar), from L. pungere "to pierce, prick." Mainly in pinking shears.

pink

see in the pink; tickled pink.

pink

any of several flowering plants of the genus Dianthus in the pink family (Caryophyllaceae), grown widely in garden borders. The approximately 300 species in the genus are nearly all natives of the Eastern Hemisphere and are found chiefly in the Mediterranean region. They are mostly short herbaceous perennials, many of which are tufted or mat-forming hardy evergreens, often with very showy flowers. There are also some annual forms. Especially noteworthy are the fragrant-flowered grass, or cottage, pink (D. plumarius); maiden, or meadow, pink (D. deltoides); and rainbow, or China, pink (D. chinensis). Most pinks are suited to rock gardens. The small but showy and often fragrant flowers are mostly pink to deep rose, some being red, purple, white, or yellow. Pinks are widely grown in American and European gardens, being of relatively easy culture. Both annual and perennial Dianthus species may be grown from seed sown in the spring in ordinary moist garden soil in a sunny location. The perennials will bloom the following summer and may be increased by cuttings or division of clumps.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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