" blink "

[Verb]  | "blink" | \ ˈbliŋk \

1: to look glancingly : peep

2: to look with half-shut eyes

3: to close and open the eyes involuntarily

Origin: 14th century ;

 Variant of blenk, going back to Middle English blenken "to shine, gleam, turn pale" and "to move suddenly or sharply, change direction, evade, mislead," perhaps going back to Germanic *blinkan-, nasal present based on pre-Germanic *blei̯k-, the base of *blīkan- "to shine" (or, alternatively, if *blenk- is primary, a derivative from the base of *blanka- "bright, white, without color") {mat|bleach:1|}, {mat|blank:1|};

  * Note : In Middle English, the verbs blenken and blenchen (see: {blench:1|blench:1}) cannot be easily separated by sense. The variants with -k-, to judge by citations in Middle English Dictionary, are less common, though the preterit bleynte might represent either variant. There are only a few Middle English forms with -i- rather than -e-, two of them from Robert Mannyng of Brunne's Handlyng Synne (in the senses "open the eyes [while waking up]" and "lead astray"); otherwise blink is rare before the seventeenth century. — Middle English blenken is paralleled by Middle Dutch blenken, blinken "to shine," Middle Low German blenken "to shine" (also "to make bright or clean"). The late appearance of these verbs in Germanic, as well as the divergences in meaning, make it difficult to divine the original situation; moreover, the expressive nature of verbs having the do with effects of light (compare, in English, sparkle, twinkle, glitter, etc.) favors multiplication of variants. If -e- is the primary vowel in English and the continental dialects, -i- may be explained as either raising before a nasal or neutralizing of the distinction (as in modern southern American English). The meanings "evade, mislead" can be see:n as a causative of "to shine" (by way of a sense "deceive by means of light, bedazzle"). It is harder to explain the merger of presumed causative forms with stative forms, however.;

[Noun]  | "blink" 

1: glimpse, glance

2: glimmer, sparkle

3: a usually involuntary shutting and opening of the eye

Origin: 1578 ;

 Derivative of {see: |blink:1|blink:1};

[Idiom]  | "blink back tears" 

1: to prevent oneself from crying or to make tears go away by blinking

[Idiom]  | "before one can blink" 

1: very quickly

[Idiom]  | "not (even) blink" 

1: to not seem surprised or upset at all

[Noun]  | "blink" 

[Verb]  | "blink" 

[Verb]  | "blink (at)" 

[Phrase]  | "on the blink"