Word.ws English Dictionary

tiddlywink

Syllables: tid·dly·winkUK/ˈtɪdəlɪwɪŋk/US/ˈtɪdliˌwɪŋk/

tiddlywink noun: an unlicensed beerhouse or pawnshop.

Noun (1)

tiddlywink (plural tiddlywinks)

  1. (UK, archaic, dialectal, obsolete, slang) An unlicensed beerhouse or pawnshop.
    Synonyms:
    kiddlywink
  2. (Cockney, UK, archaic, obsolete, slang) An alcoholic drink.
  3. (UK, archaic, obsolete) A game played using dominoes.

Noun (2)

tiddlywink (plural tiddlywinks)

  1. (UK, archaic, obsolete, tiddlywinks) A small disc used in the game of tiddlywinks; (by extension) a similar disc or counter used in other games.
    Synonyms:
    wink

Verb

tiddlywink (third-person singular simple present tiddlywinks, present participle tiddlywinking, simple past and past participle tiddlywinked)

  1. (UK, archaic, intransitive, obsolete) Especially of something disc-shaped: to flip over like a disc used in the game of tiddlywinks.
  2. (UK, archaic, intransitive, obsolete) To play tiddlywinks.

Synonyms of tiddlywink

Forms of tiddlywink

Noun
pluraltiddlywinks
Verb
third-person singular presenttiddlywinks
present participletiddlywinking
past participletiddlywinked
pasttiddlywinked

Origin of tiddlywink

Sense 1 (“unlicensed beerhouse or pawnshop”) and sense 2 (“alcoholic drink”) are possibly related to tiddly (“(noun) alcoholic beverage; (adjective) somewhat drunk”).

The noun is possibly derived from tiddly (“(informal) little, tiny”) + wink (“blinking of one eye”), perhaps borrowed from etymology 1. The game, now called tiddlywinks, was patented by a British bank clerk, Joseph Assheton Fincher (1863–1900), on 19 October 1889, and the name Tiddledy-Winks trademarked by him the same year. The verb is derived from the noun.

Words formed from tiddlywink

Questions about tiddlywink

What does tiddlywink mean?
Tiddlywink means an unlicensed beerhouse or pawnshop.
What part of speech is tiddlywink?
Tiddlywink can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce tiddlywink?
Tiddlywink is pronounced /ˈtɪdəlɪwɪŋk/ (UK).
What is the plural of tiddlywink?
The plural of tiddlywink is tiddlywinks.

Words near tiddlywink in the dictionary

  1. tiddling
  2. tiddly
  3. tiddly suit
  4. tiddly suits
  5. tiddly-om-pom-pom
  6. tiddlywink
  7. tiddlywinked
  8. tiddlywinker
  9. tiddlywinkers
  10. tiddlywinking
  11. tiddlywinks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tiddlywink (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: “tiddlywink.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tiddlywink. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.