Word.ws English Dictionary

pinnywinkles

Syllables: pin·ny·win·klesUK/ˈpɪnɪˌwɪŋkl̩s/US/ˈpɪniˌwɪŋk(ə)ls/

pinnywinkles is the alternative form of pilliwinks.

Meaning of pilliwinks

Noun

pilliwinks pl (plural only)

  1. (Scotland, historical, plural, plural-only) A torture device for squeezing the fingers; a thumbscrew.
    • [H]er maiſter to the intent that he might the better trie and finde out the truth of the ſame, did with the help of others, torment her with the torture of the Pilliwinkes upon her fingers, which is a grieuous torture, [...][1592?], attributed to James Carmichael, Newes from Scotland. Declaring the Damnable Life of Doctor Fian a Notable Sorcerer, who was Burned at Edenbrough in Ianuarie last. 1591. […], [London]...

Questions about pinnywinkles

What is pinnywinkles the alternative form of?
Pinnywinkles is the alternative form of pilliwinks.
How do you pronounce pinnywinkles?
Pinnywinkles is pronounced /ˈpɪnɪˌwɪŋkl̩s/ (UK).

Words near pinnywinkles in the dictionary

  1. pinnules
  2. pinnulet
  3. pinnulets
  4. pinny
  5. Pinny Beach
  6. pinnywinkles
  7. Pino
  8. pinobanksin
  9. pinocarveol
  10. pinocarvone
  11. Pinocchian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pinnywinkles (page history and authors); pilliwinks (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “pinnywinkles.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pinnywinkles. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.