noun
- a strikebreaker.
- a labor spy.
- an informer; stool pigeon.
- a contemptible or thoroughly unattractive person.
verb (used without object)
- to inform to the police; squeal.
- to act as a strikebreaker; scab.
Verb Phrases
- fink out,
- to withdraw from or refuse to support a project, activity, scheme, etc.; renege: He said he’d lend me his motorcycle, but he finked out.
- to become untrustworthy.
noun
- a strikebreaker; blackleg
- an informer, such as one working for the police; spy
- an unpleasant, disappointing, or contemptible person
verb
- (intr often foll by on) to inform (on someone), as to the police
1902, of uncertain origin, possibly from German Fink “a frivolous or dissolute person,” originally “finch;” the German word also had a sense of “informer” (cf. stool pigeon). The other theory traces it to Pinks, short for Pinkerton agents, the private police force hired to break up the 1892 Homestead strike. As a verb, 1925 in American English slang. Related: Finked; finking.