\ ˈpliŋk 
\
\plinked; plinking; plinks
Definition of plink
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to make a tinkling sound
2 : to shoot at random targets in an informal and noncompetitive manner
plink
nounDefinition of plink (Entry 2 of 2)
: a tinkling metallic sound
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Examples of plink in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web: Verb The seven-time Grammy-winning Newman, sheltering in place with his dog whining in the background, sat down at his piano and casually plinked out an offering as comfortable as macaroni and cheese.
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Steve Rubenstein, SFChronicle.com, "On the bright side: UCSF using 3-D printing to make much-needed face shields for health care workers," 11 Apr. 2020 It was boosted further in 2013 when Glee delivered a brilliant rendition — via a leather-clad and piano-plinking Darren Criss — during a Season Four episode.
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Bobby Olivier, Billboard, "The Evolution of Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now': How a Minor Hit Became One of The Band's Most Beloved (And Inescapable) Songs," 6 Mar. 2019 On Saturday summer evenings, my dad, brother, cousins, Uncle Hans, and I spent countless hours there plinking at marauding rats.
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Gerry Bethge, Outdoor Life, "Hunting Nutria in the Louisiana Bayou," 21 Apr. 2020 These little guns are effective and tons of fun for squirrels and bunnies, on the skeet field, or for just plinking around.
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Phil Bourjaily, Field & Stream, "A Perfect Use for the .410," 18 Sep. 2019 Bushnell’s Deploy reticle is among the simplest of the hash-mark-heavy options out there, and 4.5- to 27-power provides ridiculous versatility, whether plinking at long-range or cleaning up prairie dogs.
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Michael R. Shea, Field & Stream, "The 10 Best Rimfire Scopes for Any Budget," 3 Jan. 2020 The hours spent plinking with such a toy can instill a love of archery that lasts a lifetime.
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The Editors, Outdoor Life, "Three Ways to Get Kids Interested in Archery," 20 Nov. 2019 Then there are a few plinking synths, but in the end this is just about the lyrics.
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Raisa Bruner, Time, "The 5 Best Songs of the Week, From Selena Gomez to Frank Ocean," 25 Oct. 2019 Fielding a request to do a spontaneous piece, Wheaton starts with an up-tempo, plinking line of notes, adds a brisk allegro melody that plays in syncopation against it, and finally pipes in a series of cascading arpeggios.
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Rand Richards Cooper, courant.com, "In Our Midst: Gabriel Wheaton’s classical, contemporary, opulent and wildly eclectic one-man band," 15 Nov. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun That leaves us with the plink master, the first rifle many of us called our own, the humble .22.
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Johnny Carrol Sain, Outdoor Life, "The Ultimate Guide to Hunting Squirrels," 6 Oct. 2020 Mike Goodman raised his golf club in a graceful arc, uncoiled and — with a swift metallic plink — sent the white ball streaking over the first fairway of the Worthington Manor Golf Club in Frederick County.
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Fredrick Kunkle, Washington Post, "Maryland open: State’s golfers celebrate lifting of emergency pandemic decree," 7 May 2020 The pleasant plink of the record falling into place, a click to begin the next tale of someone surviving a wretched heartbreak, and the hand disappeared.
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Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, "Tuning In to Instagram D.J.s," 17 Apr. 2020 With a series of plinks, the stomach contents slumped out onto the metal sieve below.
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Rachel Becker, The Mercury News, "Seabirds eating plastic. Recyclers struggling. This is what California’s waste crisis looks like," 3 Aug. 2019 The recognizable plink occurs only when a water droplet lands in water; a drop landing on a dry, wooden surface leaves only a dull thud.
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Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, "Here’s What Makes a Dripping Faucet Go ‘Plink’," 22 June 2018 Researchers have also spent the last century or so trying to figure out how the plink sound is produced.
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Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "The Physics Behind a Leaky Faucet’s Maddening ‘Plink’," 25 June 2018 In 2017, Agarwal took the question to an undergraduate lab at Cambridge, which used high-speed cameras, an underwater microphone, and a microphone on dry land to capture precisely when and how a falling droplet of water plinks.
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Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, "Here’s What Makes a Dripping Faucet Go ‘Plink’," 22 June 2018 The first, which is built around Malik’s velvet vocals, a heartrending melody and spare, sonar-plink sonics builds -- and improves -- on his debut album’s sound.
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Jonathan Ringen, Billboard, "Zayn Opens Up About Conquering Anxiety, Prepping Album No. 2 -- and Why He's Been Living on a Farm," 2 Nov. 2017
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'plink.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for plink
The first known use of plink was in 1916
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