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Glite Dictionary
to blink away

to blink away

2 5.7
To hold back tears by quickly closing your eyes
  • phrasal verb
: contener
  • Ellie blinks away the tears.
  • blinked away tears
  • try to blink away
  • blinked away the moisture

Examples

  • He closes his eyes, blinking away the sweat.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • She blinked away her unshed tears.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • She was blinking away tears when she finished.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • In his bed, Bruce wakes, trying to blink away the images.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • John shakes his head, trying to blink away the nightmare.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • As he hugged his family and blinked away tears in his eyes, McCarron knew he had done something amazing.

    Blog text (30)

  • Her eyes smarted from the tang of the cut pine and the quick tears for her father that she blinked away.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • He dipped his candle carefully and blinked away some tears.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • "Yes," agreed Maddie, and she blinked away the tears that came as she thought of Wanda standing alone, looking at the group of laughing gifts after she had said, "Sure, a hundred—all lined up..."

    Fiction book (1996)

  • After hearing the good news, I blinked away the tears of happiness that filled my eyes.

Synonyms

to blink
vsto blink away
3 2.9

To close and open the eyelids to stop tears from falling

is the same meaning but expressed as a multiword colloquial form
to blink back tears
vsto blink away
2 4.9

To try to stop crying by blinking quickly

uses eye closures to hold back emotion without strong rapid closures
to wink
vsto blink away
1 6.2

To blink many times to stop tears or strong feelings

uses eye closures to prevent tears or hold back emotion without repeated action

Antonyms

to shed a tear
18 3.5

Cry a little, often with one tear

How Controlled

to compose
17 4.7
to stifle
71 5.3
to blink away
2 5.7
to cry
∞ 1.0
to break down
117 3.9

Surface Forms

blink away infinitive
blinked away past
blinked away past participle
blinking away present participle
blinks away third person singular

Morphology

blink + away

The meaning is directly compositional: 'blink' names the action and 'away' signals removal or dispelling, so 'blink away' naturally means to make tears/emotion go away by blinking. This verb+away pattern is a common, productive construction in English (and parallels exist in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the meaning.

Etymology

Blink away comes from the simple image of closing your eyes quickly: by blinking you move a tear away from your face before it falls. So it means 'to try to stop tears or hide strong feelings'.