WORD FOR THE DAY: HINKY

Your word for today is: hinky, adj.

hinky, adj.

[‘ Chiefly Police slang. Nervous, uneasy.’]

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈhɪŋki/,  U.S. /ˈhɪŋki/

Forms:  19– hinkey,   19– hinky. 

Etymology:Probably a variant of hincty adj.

 U.S. colloq. (orig. in African-American usage and Police slang).

 1.  Chiefly Police slang. Nervous, uneasy.

1956  ‘B. Holiday’  & W. Dufty Lady sings Blues xx. 181 If I started getting nervous or hinky, wondering, ‘What is this?’ he'd tell me to take it easy.

1957 San Francisco Chron. 27 Mar. 5/1 ‘Maybe he's hinky (nervous),’ said Inspector Coster. ‘Maybe,’ Maloney nodded his head, ‘let's just remember to keep quiet when they are making the deal.’

1987  D. F. Wallace Broom of Syst. 434 If you're going to get all hinkey about Lenore and not let me express feelings, you can atleast let me scope a little bit.

2000  P. Cornwell Last Precinct (2001) 287 If the hairs turn out to be Chandonne's, then I'm gonna have to entertain the idea she let him stay out there, and that's why she got all hinky about it.

 2.  Suspect, questionable. Also: unreliable, not working properly.

1961 Flip Talk Dict. (at cited word), Hinky, not on the level.

1975  J. Wambaugh Choirboys vii. 93 ‘Driver of the pimpmobile looks hinky.’.. ‘Let's bring him down. Might have a warrant.’

1992  E. Goudge Such Devoted Sisters iii. 445 The dishwasher had to go hinky, flooding the kitchen floor.

2003  C. Whitehead Colossus of N.Y. 145 Compass needles spin wildly, act hinky when asked to draw a bead on true north.

2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 17 Apr. v. 16/5 Shaw..smells a rat: ‘Oil companies thus far have not reacted to the market... It's a little bit hinky.’

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