Word.ws English Dictionary

winkle-hawk

winkle-hawk noun: a rectangular tear or cut in clothing or any other fabric, shaped like a try square.

Noun

winkle-hawk (plural winkle-hawks)

  1. (New-York, obsolete, rare) A rectangular tear or cut in clothing or any other fabric, shaped like a try square.
    • The spekilation ha'n't turned out just so good as I expected, but it might have been worse ; anyhow, it's a comfort to walk off without a winkle-hawk in one's character for 'cuteness.1861 July, “Norman Sinclair. An Autobiography”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 90, page 44
    • NOTE—Some are slightly imperfect through mill stains or “winkle hawks”—hardly noticeable.1908 November 11, "Hahne & Co." (advertisement), Elizabeth Daily Journal, evening edition, page 4.

Forms of winkle-hawk

pluralwinkle-hawks
alternative formwinklehawk

Origin of winkle-hawk

Borrowed from Dutch winkelhaak (“try square, rectangular tear or cut”), from Middle Dutch winkelhake (“try square”).

Questions about winkle-hawk

What does winkle-hawk mean?
Winkle-hawk means a rectangular tear or cut in clothing or any other fabric, shaped like a try square.
What part of speech is winkle-hawk?
Winkle-hawk is a noun.
What is the plural of winkle-hawk?
The plural of winkle-hawk is winkle-hawks.

Words near winkle-hawk in the dictionary

  1. winkle out
  2. winkle picker
  3. winkle pickers
  4. winkle squeeze
  5. winkle squeezes
  6. winkle-hawk
  7. winkle-hawks
  8. winkle-picker
  9. winkle-pickers
  10. Winklebury
  11. winkled

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: winkle-hawk (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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