bink
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: -ɪŋk
Forms: form: binks
Etymology: From Middle English bink, binke, variants of Middle English benk, benke, from Old English benc (“bench”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz. More at bench.
Senses: examples: text: He bouns him to the house, An' sits him doon upo' the bink, An' plaits a theet, or mends a mink, To sair an aifter use .
ref: 1877, William Alexander, “Domestic Industries and Out-door Labour”, in Notes and Sketches Illustrative of Northern Rural Life in the Eighteenth Century, page 144:
text: In comes the tod (fox) whiskin, whiskin, an he sits doon o' the green bink.
ref: 1885, “The Lion, The Leper, and the Tod”, in The Folk-lore Journal - Volume 3, page 269:
text: Sitting here in the park bink, Alane - yet no aa that alane.
ref: 1987, Alexander Scott, Voices of Our Kind: An Anthology of Modern Scottish Poetry, page 64:
glosses: A bench.
examples: text: According to the most painstaking among our etymologist, the name was first conferred upon one who, in his attendance upon weddings and other convivial occasions, rendered himself so agreeable to the company by his skill in whistling, that he was allowed to sit at the bink, or board , and partake of the good things free of all expense; an honour , in the early ages of our history , which was only conferred on the highest degree of merit.
ref: 1832, “Whistle-binkie: a Collection of Comic and Sentimental Songs”, in Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, and Sciences, page 501:
text: In front of the entrance to Alexander's booth there used to stand "a stane bink" which was employed "for outsetting of stands affore the buith."
ref: 1891, Alexander Maxwell, Old Dundee, page 193:
text: His wife may ay sit foremost doun, At either buird or bink, Gang foremost in at door or yett, And ay the first guid-day wald get, With all men honourit and weel-tret As ony heart wald think.
ref: 1908, Frederick William Watkeys, Old Edinburgh, page 234:
glosses: A table or similar surface for laying out items.
examples: text: We have it in a manuscript; the good-man keeps it, as we think, Behind a dish, upon the bink.
ref: 1684, John Colvil., “Mock Poem”, in The Teares of the Muses:
text: The bink took the place of the modern dresser , and on it were arranged the bowls and tinnies for family use, while underneath were placed the pails, pots, and other cooking utensils.
ref: 1911, Old-lore Miscellany of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, and Sutherland,- Volume 4:
text: His wife on the one side, in her pearlings and pudding sleeves, put the last finishing touch to her holiday's apparel, while she contemplated a very handsome and good-humored face in a broken mirror, raised upon the bink (the shelves on which the plates are disposed ) for her special accommodation.
ref: 1999, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy. A legend of Montrose. The bridge of Lammermoor. The monastery, page 375:
glosses: A sideboard or shelf unit for holding dishes.
examples: text: Up thro' the cleughs, where bink on bink was set, Scrambling wi' hands and feet she taks the gate,
ref: 1842, Alexander Ross, Helenore; or, The fortunate shepherdess, page 17:
text: We peer over the edge—it is far more pleasant to kneel down on one knee and steady oneself with one hand, besides being safer, in the event of the edge being rotten or should a wind be blowing—we peer over the edge, and see the fox run lightly along a slightly projecting crag, from which with a sidelong scramble up a rough rock face, it reaching a narrow grassy "bink" ledge, and there it is binked as safe as the Church of England ( just about ) .
ref: 1902, Claude Ernest Benson, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 240:
text: Without a stick a man would climb down sideways from bink to bink.
ref: 1902, Claude Ernest Benson ·, Crag and Hound in Lakeland, page 18:
text: There was a man did that up on that bink, a hundred years or more ago, two hundred more like, for there was no gun in Nardale then.
ref: 1911, Abraham Wren Rumney, The Dalesman, page 127:
glosses: A mountain ledge.
examples: text: They carry on the section, or the bink as they term it, of a convenient depth for easier cutting, frequently using the moss of least value above, and leaving that which is of much greater value.
ref: 1811, William Aiton, A Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss-earth, page 145:
text: We go on in this manner until the bink is out, that is, taken out down to the level of last year's hole. Bink after bink is excavated until the whole block that was turred is removed, and now as the most valuable part is under our feet we have to commence to "sink."
ref: 1892, “Peat, Its Use and Value for Fuel”, in Report of the Bureau of Mines - Volumes 1-4, page 188:
text: Och, an' I ken folk mysel' that found an iron pot o' doubloons in the peat bink; but aul ' Tchonie, he just takes what he will be needin', and he takes it at night when the folks are abed.
ref: 2022, John Sillars, The McBrides: A Romance of Arran:
glosses: A long cut in peat moss, marking a section from which blocks of peat are cut.
examples: text: This splendid attire, however, saves them not from being rudely handled; and we remember the day when an artificial bink, that is , a little box made of clay , with a piece of glass at one end , and a sprinkling of sugar at the other , contained as many captives in proportion to its size as the black hole at Calcutta .
ref: 1840, James Duncan, The Natural History of Bees, page 240:
text: Just that –no that I'm sure that there are ony honey-bees in Arthur's seat, but there's plenty of bum-bees, and aiblins a wasp bink. "
ref: 1856, Archibald Boyd, The Crown Ward - Volume 3, page 143:
text: On 19th July I examined old hive, turned it completely up on its side: combs nearly black, two at one side as musty as an old wasp's bink: decided to clear them out on Monday.
ref: 1890, Bee-keepers' Record, page 147:
glosses: A hive.