Wink
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( v. i.) To nod; to sleep; to nap.
(2): ( v. i.) To be dim and flicker; as, the light winks.
(3): ( v. i.) To avoid taking notice, as if by shutting the eyes; to connive at anything; to be tolerant; - generally with at.
(4): ( v. i.) To give a hint by a motion of the eyelids, often those of one eye only.
(5): ( v. i.) To shut the eyes quickly; to close the eyelids with a quick motion.
(6): ( n.) A hint given by shutting the eye with a significant cast.
(7): ( v. t.) To cause (the eyes) to wink.
(8): ( n.) The act of closing, or closing and opening, the eyelids quickly; hence, the time necessary for such an act; a moment.
(9): ( v. i.) To close and open the eyelids quickly; to nictitate; to blink.
King James Dictionary [2]
Wink, G Wink and wince are radically one word.
1. To shut the eyes to close the eyelids.
They are not blind, but they wink.
2. To close and open the eyelids. 3. To give a hint by a motion of the eyelids.
Wink at the footman to leave him without a plate.
4. To close the eyelids and exclude the light.
Or wink as cowards and afraid.
5. To be dim as a winking light.
To wink at, to connive at to seem not to see to tolerate to overlook, as something not perfectly agreeable as, to wink at faults.
WINK, n.
1. The act of closing the eyelids. I lay awake, and could not sleep a wink.
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink.
2. A hint given by shutting the eye with a significant cast.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [3]
WINK . To ‘wink at,’ i. e . pass over, is used of God in Acts 17:30 ‘The times of this ignorance God winked at,’ and Wis 11:23 ‘Thou … winkest at the sins of men.’ It is a good example of the colloquial language of the English Versions.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
wink ( רזם , rāzam , literally, "to roll the eyes"): The act or habit of winking was evidently considered to be evil both in its motives and in its results. The idea of its facetiousness, prevalent in our day, is nowhere apparent in the Scriptures. It is mentioned frequently, but is always associated with sin, in the Old Testament especially in the sense of conceit, pride, and rebellion against God: "Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, that thou turnest thy spirit against God" ( Job 15:12 , Job 15:13 the King James Version). So also Psalm 35:19 : "Neither let them wink with the eye that hate roe without a cause." "A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes," etc. ( Proverbs 6:12 , Proverbs 6:13 the King James Version). "He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow" ( Proverbs 10:10 ). See Watkinson, Education of the Heart , "Ethics of Gesture," 194 ff.
In the New Testament the word is used to express the longsuffering patience and forgiveness of God toward erring Israel: "And the times of this ignorance God winked at" ( Acts 17:30 the King James Version, ὑπερεῖδον , hupereı́don , "overlooked," and so translated in the Revised Version (British and American); compare The Wisdom of Solomon 11:23; Ecclesiasticus 30:11). The use of "winked" in this connection would in our day, of course, be considered in bad taste, if not actually irreverent, but it is an excellent example of the colloquialism of the King James Version.
