What does blinking mean?
Blinking is the present participle and gerund of the verb blink, describing both the quick closing and opening of the eyes and the intermittent flashing of a light. In everyday life, blinking is essential to eye health: each blink spreads moisture across the surface of the eye and briefly resets attention, occurring so often that people perform it thousands of times daily without noticing. By extension, blinking describes anything that flashes on and off — a cursor, warning light, or fairy lights — conveying alertness or malfunction. In British English, blinking also serves as an old-fashioned mild oath, softening irritation in phrases like 'a blinking nuisance' without causing genuine offence. The word carries little emotional weight in its literal senses but can signal impatience or comic exasperation when used as an intensifier, making it useful in both technical description and colloquial speech.
Closing and opening the eyes quickly, or (of a light) shining intermittently.
"She was still blinking away the sleep as she made coffee."
An act or instance of blinking; the action of closing and opening the eyes rapidly.
"In the blinking of an eye, the magician had vanished."
Used as a mild euphemistic intensifier expressing mild annoyance or emphasis.
"I've told him three blinking times already."
You blink roughly 15–20 times a minute — around 15,000 times a day — yet your brain edits most of them out so you never see the darkness.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of blinking
Blinking derives from the verb blink, which appeared in Middle English in the fourteenth century, likely from or influenced by Middle Dutch blinken meaning to shine or glitter. The earliest senses concerned glancing or gleaming light, with the eye-closing sense developing soon after. It is related to German blinken and shares distant roots with words connected to brightness and glancing light. The British slang intensifier use arose in the nineteenth century as a polite alteration of stronger oaths.
Related word forms
How blinking is actually used
As an intensifier, 'blinking' is chiefly British, mildly dated, and considered genteel rather than vulgar — a polite substitute for stronger expletives. In American usage it appears mainly in its literal senses relating to eyes and lights.
Easily confused with blinking
Winking is deliberately closing one eye, usually as a signal or flirtation, whereas blinking is the involuntary or habitual closing of both eyes.
Blanking means erasing or leaving something empty or unresponsive, while blinking refers to eye movement or intermittent flashing light.