winkling

Coaxing something free

Winkling is the process of extracting or prying something out, especially with difficulty or persistence.

The word comes from the winkle, a small sea snail that must be picked out of its shell with a pin.

To winkle someone out is to force them from a position or hiding place: They spent months winkling the last holdouts from the building.

To winkle out information is to extract it through patient effort: She finally winkled the truth out of him.

extracting

prying

Intrusively inquisitive

dislodgingFreeing from fixed position
teasing outGradually extracting something hidden
coaxingPersuading through gentle persistence

removing · loosening · extricating · prising · levering · nudging · jimmying · finessing · picking out · fishing out

information

coaxing

Persuading through gentle persistence

elicitingDrawing out responses
wheedlingPersuading through flattery
extractingPulling out from within

probing · teasing out · drawing out · ferreting · uncovering · prying · digging · fishing · cajoling · persuading

eviction

displacing

Removing from position

oustingForcible removal from position
removingTaking something out
dislodgingFreeing from fixed position

ejecting · expelling · flushing out · rooting out · forcing out · clearing · evicting · uprooting · dispossessing · smoking out

shellfish

whelk

Marine gastropod with coiled shell

snailShelled, slow-moving mollusk
pinPointed metal fastener
cockleSmall ribbed bivalve

mussel · tidepool · seashore · foraging · buckets · rockpool · seaside · gathering · beach · coastal

Opposites

extraction method

winklingyanking

Pulling abruptly

wrenching · snatching · grabbing · jerking · forcing

information/object movement

winklinginserting

Placing within something

concealing · hiding · embedding · implanting · burying

Family

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Profile: Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G