> fink > > fink fink, sb.2 U.S. slang. Origin unknown. A pejorative term of > wide application, esp. > > a. An unpleasant or contemptible person. > > b. An informer; a detective. > > c. A strike-breaker. > > * 1903 Ade People you Know 60 Anyone who goes against the Faculty > single-handed is a Fink. > > * 1914 Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 33 Fink,..an > unreliable confederate or incompetent sympathizer. > > * 1925 Amer. Speech I. 151/2 `Dick' and `bull' and `John Law' > have become established as names for the police, while `fink' > and `stool' and `fly-dick' denote the plain-clothes men. > > * 1926 Amer. Mercury Jan. 63/1 Dating from the famous Homestead > strike of 1892 is the odious fink. [It] according to one > version was originally Pink, a contraction of Pinkerton, and > referred to the army of strikebreakers recruited by the > detective agency. > > * 1929 E. Booth Stealing through Life xi. 259 `That guy..is a > rat.'.. `So's the fink with him.' > > * A. 1940 F. Scott Fitzgerald Last Tycoon (1949) vi. 143 A fink? > That's a strike-breaker or a company tec. > > * 1940 R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely v. 25 Now he's looking for > the fink that turned him up eight years ago. > > * 1959 C. Williams Man in Motion viii. 106 Except for being a > rat, a fink, a scab, a thug, and a goon, he's one of the > sweetest guys you'll ever meet. > > * 1970 New Yorker 15 Aug. 66/2 The film, in sudden want of a > through-and-through-fink type, forgets that it has established > two..hippies as loyal. > > fink > > fink fink, v.1 Colloq. corruption of think v.2 > > * 1888 Kipling Wee Willie Winkie (1890) 12, I don't fink I'll > ever want to kiss big girls. > > * 1913 B. Moore in E. Pertwee Reciter's Second Treasury Verse > 226, I really fink, 'tween me and you, I'd raver be a little > girl. > > * 1941 H. G. Wells You can't be too Careful iii. ii. 115 That boy > is still as pure as the driven snow. (I don't fink. I saw his > face.) > > * 1962 N. Marsh Hand in Glove vi. 202 Makes you fink, don't it? > fink > > fink fink, v.2 U.S. slang. f. fink sb.2 intr. To inform on. > > * 1925 Flynn's 24 Jan. 119/1 Fink, to squeal; to inform on. > > * 1953 W. R. Burnett Vanity Row v. 43 Only a rat co-operated with > the police; only a rat finked! > > * 1953 R. Chandler Long Good-Bye ix. 57 Suppose you had to hire a > private eye... Would you want one that finked on his friends? > > * 1969 Rolling Stone 28 June 4/2 The gang tries to sell their > smack to a black hippie pusher who finks on them.