inkling

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈɪŋklɪŋ/

noun

Etymology: From Middle English ningkiling, nyngkiling (“hint, slight indication; mention, whisper”), and then either: * possibly a variant of nikking, nyckyng (“hint, slight indication; mention, whisper”), possibly from nikken (“to mark (a text) for correction (?)”) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming gerunds from verbs); or * more likely from the rebracketing of an inklyng as a ninkiling, from Middle English inklen (“to mention (in a low voice); to tell (the truth)”) [and other forms] + -ing, -inge; inklen may be derived from inca, inke (“dread, fear; doubt; danger, risk (?)”), from Old English inca (“doubt, uncertainty; suspicion; fear; cause for complaint, grievance, grudge, ill-will, offence; quarrel; occasion, opportunity”), from Proto-Germanic *inkô (“ache; grief; regret”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eng-, *yenǵ- (“illness”). The English word would then be analysable as inkle + -ing. Sense 3 (“desire, inclination”) may have been influenced by incline (“to tend to believe or do something”) or French enclin (“inclined, prone”).

Usually preceded by forms of to give: a slight hint, implication, or suggestion given., A vague idea about something.
“[T]he present recalled the past, robed in the memories of its thousand dark and damning deeds of ignorance and superstition, and gave inklings of a brighter and better future; [...]”
“You ought to know something of French habits, at your age. You must have read books that give an inkling of it.”
Often preceded by forms of to get or to have: an imprecise idea or slight knowledge of something; a suspicion.
“If that a Pearl may in a Toads-head dwell, / And may be found too in an Oiſter-ſhell; / If things that promiſe nothing, do contain / What better is then Gold; who will diſdain / (That have an inkling of it,) there to look, / That they may find it?”
“This man then meeting with Chriſtian, and having ſome inckling of him, for Chriſtians ſetting forth from the City of Deſtruction was much noiſed abroad, not only in the Town, where he dwelt, but alſo it began to be the Town-talk in ſome other places.”
A desire, an inclination.
“I requested brother Weder to come up into the stand and commence the preaching. But, inasmuch as he had his own notion about such things, having an inkling towards Quakerism within him,—that is, not to speak until he felt moved to do so, and this inspiration was wanting,—he refused to preach, and remained on his seat in the congregation.”
“A strong culture maintains the stability of its concepts or doctrines in various ways. One way is to convince its members that their inklings towards change are pathological. But actually the range of health is very broad, and the flexibility of the human mind is great. It is not pathological for belief-systems to change, even continuously, provided we keep them stable enough to allow adequate functioning.”

verb

Etymology: See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

present participle and gerund of inkle