Login

Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dink v.

also dinky, double-dink

1. (Aus.) to miss one’s supper.

1895

Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 24: Dink Out, to go without dinner.

2. (Aus. juv.) to give someone a lift on the crossbar of one’s bicycle or motorcycle; also used of horse-riding.

1914		Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 27 July 5/2: [advert] Motor Cyclist Takes Passenger On Carrier. Falls Off. Passenger Hurt, Law Stops Double Dinking. What To Do— See Dom Riley's Side Cars, £5 To £40.
1921		Australasian (Melbourne) 19 Mar. 37/5: [of horseback] The fair rider beat her whip against a legging [...] On a road like this five miles is five miles, isn’t it? How about a double-dink?’.
1923		Mirror (Perth) 27 Jan. 3/3: Ruth was seen on Monday night to be double-dinked home on the back of Tommy C’s — push bike.
1925		Argus (Melbourne) 17 Nov. 4/4: In the country children have often to go some distance to school, and I found that ‘double donkey’ meant two, or often three, on one pony [...] Other names applied to that style of riding were ‘double dink’ and ‘double decker’.
1931		Sydney Mail (NSW) 29 July 2/2: Most of the boys went on their bicycles, many of the bigger ones ‘double-dinking’ their pals, whilst others went on ‘Shanks’s pony’.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 25: Double-dink, to carry a second person on the top bar of a bicycle. It is also a noun. Exchangeable terms are ‘dink’, ‘donk’, and ‘double-bank’, both as verbs and nouns.
1945		Albany Advertiser (Aus.) 15 Jan. 4/2: A couple of young bloods double-dinking on a ramshackle grid.
1959		G. Hamilton Summer Glare 38: We went dinking together on me bike.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 80: I’ll dink Joanie, Terry. Come on, love, get on.
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 dinky 1. to convey as a second person on a horse, bicycle, or motorcycle. —noun 2. a ride obtained from being dinkied.
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 ‘Double dinking in the 1950s and 60s in Harvey of WA (and perhaps elsewhere) meant to be carrying two people on a bicycle’.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 dinky, dink v. [...] to transport a second person on a bicycle, usually while the person is seated at the front of the bicycle, on the handle-bars or ‘side-saddle’ on the cross bar.