blinker
verbEtymology From blink + -er.
1
To put blinkers on.
- The farmer stopped to blinker his horse before riding into an area of heavy traffic.
- Related terms
- blinkers
blinker
nounUK /ˈblɪŋkə/ · US /ˈblɪŋkəɹ/
Etymology From blink + -er.
8 senses
1
Anything that blinks.
- She was a frequent blinker, always on the verge of tears.
2
Australia, Northern US, Informal The turn signal of an automobile.
3
In plural A shield attached to the bridle of a horse or other domesticated animal to prevent it from seeing things behind it and to its side.
4
Whatever obstructs sight or discernment.
- This floor let not the vulgar tread, / Who worship only what they dread: / Nor bigots who but one way see, / Through blinkers of authority1732, Matthew Green, Grotto:
5
Rare The eyelid.
6
Slang A black eye.
- The next morning, Jimmy came home with a fat lip and a black eye. Flory rushed over to tend to him. “Ain't nothin'. Just a blinker... had a fight with a guy. […]2011, Mari Christie, Concrete Loyalties, page 419:
7
Cellular automata, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences In Conway's Game of Life, an arrangement of three cells in a row that switches between horizontal and vertical orientations in each generation.
- The following for example, doesn't work because the spark at the top is actually a blinker, and doesn't die. Without the blinker, this object is known as an OWSS (overweight spaceship).1992 August 13, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 1)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
- 3 live cells together can yield either a blinker or a block, so these will be the most common objects formed "out of the void".1994 May 13, Louis Howell, “Louis Howell's question of block clearing in life (simple solution)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
1 more example
- As Hickerson points out, a glider aimed at a faraway blinker or preblock has only 8 cells, but can be arranged to run as long as you want.2008 January 8, Dave Greene, “Evolutionary factor in Conway's life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
8
Slang A situation where the light of a dab pen or vape starts blinking, which happens when the user takes an extremely long hit.
- a double blinker (hitting blinkers on two pens simultaneously)
- I just hit a blinker.
1 more example
- When you just hit 2 back to back blinkers off the dab pen and you trying to hold your cough around people2023 January 31, @GreedyAlmighty, Twitter, archived from the original on 09 Dec 2023:
- Derived terms
- blinkerdom, blinker fluid, nanoblinker