sinker

Noun

sinker (plural sinkers)

1. That which sinks or descends.
2. One who sinks something.
   • McLachlan's value as a coal miner was enhanced by the specialized skill he learned as a shaft-sinker.1999, David Frank, J.B. McLachlan: A Biography
3. A weight used in fishing to cause the line or net to sink.
   • Hook the sinker onto this loop.
   • Then the caplin moved off, and five minutes later there was no sound except the splash of the sinkers overside, the flapping of the cod, and the whack of the muckles as the men stunned them.1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous
4. Any of several high speed pitches that have a downward motion near the plate; a two-seam fastball, a split-finger fastball, or a forkball.
   • His sinkers drew one ground ball after another.
5. A sinker nail, used for framing in current construction.
6. (slang) A doughnut; a biscuit.
   • Of the fifty cents, ten went for the glassy shoeshine; twenty-five for a boutonniere; ten for coffee and sinkers at the Cockeyed Bakery.1926, Edna Ferber, Show Boat: A Novel, page 268
   • they improvised by opening a barrel of flour and letting each man dump in a quart of water (if he had one) and scoop out a handful of dough to bake into rock-hard sinkers.2001, Gerald J. Prokopowicz, All for the Regiment: The Army of the Ohio, 1861-1862, page 148
7. In knitting machines, one of the thin plates, blades, or other devices, that depress the loops upon or between the needles.