ink

Pluralinks (some meanings)

Formsinks, inking, inked

1. 1
   writing liquidnoununcountable

   A colored liquid made with pigment or dye, used for writing, printing, drawing, and similar work.

   Please sign both copies of the lease in blue or black ink.

   The old map was drawn in brown ink that has faded over the centuries.

   Note

   Behind the everyday word is an imperial one: Latin encaustum, the purple ink Roman emperors used to sign documents, from a Greek word meaning burned in. It reached English through French and displaced the native Old English word, which simply meant black. The usual construction is in ink, with any color slipped in between: a form filled out in ink, lyrics written in pink ink.

2. 2
   squid fluidnoununcountable

   The black or dark fluid that squid, octopuses, and similar animals squirt out to protect themselves.

   The startled octopus released a cloud of ink and darted into the rocks.

   The restaurant serves a risotto colored jet black with squid ink.

   Note

   Cephalopods get more than one kind of protection from it. Some ink has proved unpalatable to fish in experiments, and observers have seen it draw predators toward the cloud, buying the animal a little more time to escape. Kitchens put it to a gentler use: squid ink turns a risotto jet black.

3. 3
   sign a dealverbtransitive

   To sign a contract or a similar formal document.

   The city hopes to ink the agreement with the developer before the end of the month.

   The singer inked a contract with a major label last spring.

   Similarsign

4. 4
   tattoosnounslanguncountable

   Tattoo work, or the tattoos a person has.

   The bartender's arms were covered in colorful ink from wrist to shoulder.

   He finally got new ink done to mark his daughter's birth.

   Similartattoos

   Note

   The usual phrase is get ink done, and the word takes no article: someone has ink, shows off new ink, gets some ink done. A single design is a tattoo; ink names the work, or the whole collection on someone's skin. The Offspring's Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) (1998) sets the two side by side: he's getting a tattoo, yeah, he's getting ink done.

5. 5
   give a tattooverbtransitive

   To give someone a tattoo.

   The artist refuses to ink anyone who shows up drunk.

   The same artist inked both brothers on a single afternoon.

   Similartattoo

6. 6
   writing liquidnouncountable

   A particular kind or color of ink, or a container of it.

   For glossy paper you need an ink that dries in seconds and won't smear.

   The calligrapher keeps a dozen inks on her desk, from deep black to bright vermilion.

7. 7
   applyverbtransitive

   To apply ink to something, or to cover or smear it with ink.

   The officer inked each of her fingers and pressed them onto the card.

   Ink the roller evenly before you run it across the carved block.

8. 8
   squirt outverbintransitive

   Of a squid or octopus, to squirt out its dark protective fluid.

   The octopus inked twice and vanished into a crack in the reef.

   Squid tend to ink when a diver swims too close.

9. 9
   media attentionnounslanguncountable

   Publicity, or attention from the press and other media.

   The mayor's housing plan got plenty of ink in the local papers.

   Right now the scandal is getting more ink than the election itself.

   Similarhype, spotlight, plug, ballyhoo

   Note

   It lives in the phrase get ink: a person or a story gets ink, or a lot of ink, when the press keeps writing about it. Writers enjoy measuring it, and the Washington Post of 1999 had Judith Hope getting ink by the barrelful. Hype and plug are near neighbors, but ink names the coverage itself rather than the effort to drum it up.

10. 10
    cheap winenounslanguncountable

    Cheap red wine.

    The students passed around a jug of ink and toasted the end of exams.

    The bistro pours a glass of ink that is barely better than vinegar, but it costs almost nothing.

    Similarplonk

    Note

    Friends drinking the stuff use this joking, faintly scornful word; it has no place on a wine list. Like wine itself it usually takes no article, so people speak of a jug of ink, two bottles of ink or plenty of ink, never of an ink.

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