fink








noun

  1. a strikebreaker.
  2. a labor spy.
  3. an informer; stool pigeon.
  4. a contemptible or thoroughly unattractive person.

verb (used without object)

  1. to inform to the police; squeal.
  2. to act as a strikebreaker; scab.

Verb Phrases

  1. fink out,
    1. 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.
    2. to become untrustworthy.

noun

  1. a strikebreaker; blackleg
  2. an informer, such as one working for the police; spy
  3. an unpleasant, disappointing, or contemptible person

verb

  1. (intr often foll by on) to inform (on someone), as to the police
n.

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.

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