Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
CLINK, Klink, v.2 and n.2 [klɪŋk]
1. v.
(1) To rivet, to clasp; “to clench, to fasten a bolt by beating out the point of it” (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl., klink). Ppl.adj. clinkit. Often used fig. Gen.Sc.Abd. 1987 Alexander Fenton Wirds an' Wark 41:
Mr Hunter would take it to the blacksmith to get it clinkit.Bch. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 93:
She coft frae this wild tinkler core For new, a trencher clinkit.Ags. 1833 J. S. Sands Poems 112:
Our arms in ane anither linkit, As firm as tho' we had been clinkit.Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle, etc. 127:
Waldit and clinkit for life, E'en woo'd and married and a'!Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake 128:
Your nest swing-swingin' in the win's, Or clinkit 'neath the staney eaves.Slk. 1818 Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck, etc. II. ii.:
Mackenzie began to clink thegither the evidence.
Hence clinker, fig., a 'stunner', something which astounds, as being of superlative excellence or an unpleasant and unlooked-for nature (I., n.Sc. 1975). Cf. Eng. clincher. Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) 6:
That's a clinker, Sandy. That billie 'ill cover the grund.Dmf. 1822 W. McVitie Tales I. 163:
My faith, lad, ye hae gien me a clinker. Deil tak ye for a Duke, I wish I had never seen the face o' ye.
†(2) To mend (clothes).Abd. 1768 A. Ross Rock and Wee Pickle Tow xvii.:
A pair of gray hoggers well clinked benew.
(3) "To join two sheets of metal by folding, engaging the edges of each and pressing or beating them flat" (Sc. 1972 J. Hastings Plumber's Companion 57).
(4) To compose (verses). Derivs. clinker, a poetaster, rhymester, clinkin, the making of verses. Poss. partly associated with clink, to ring, tinkle, as in to gar the verses clink. Cf. also crambo-clink, see Crambo. Sc. 1719 in Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 126:
The crooked Clinkers shall be cow'd, But ye shall shine. Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays 113-4:
There, thinkin and clinkin, they sit i' their ha' . . When ance a' set down to the clinkin o't. Fif. 1881 J. W. McLaren Rhymes 30:
Sae I as weel may clink a sang.Edb. 1866 J. Smith Merry Bridal 41:
I struck my lyre, an' clinkit rhyme.
2. n. A rivet (Bnff.2 1937).Dmf. 1820 Blackwood's Mag. (April) 57:
Ye've coupit the sodering-pan, my lass, And ye have scaled my clinks o' brass.Dmf. 1925 W. A. Scott in Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 21:
Get the smith tae pit a clink in it.
Comb.: clink-nail, “a nail that is clinched” (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.2).
[Corresponds to Eng. clinch, of which this may be a northern form, or it may derive directly from Low Ger. and Du. klinken (Sw. klinka, Norw. and Dan. klinke), id. Phs. orig. the same as Clink,n.1, v.1, from the sound made in hammering the rivets.]
