noun
clink
A jail or prison, informally.
The old comedy sends its unlucky hero to the clink.
Etymology
The Clink was a London prison whose name became a general slang word for jail. Calling a prison the clink preserves that transfer from a particular institution to the whole category.
More examples
- He joked that another stunt would land them in the clink.
- The character spent a week in the clink.
- The newspaper used clink as an informal word for jail.
Forms
clink
Similar words
- prison
- The neutral institutional term, while clink is informal.