[The evidence appears to indicate that the name was proper to the Southwark ‘Clink,’ and thence transferred elsewhere; but the converse may have been the fact. If the name was originally descriptive, various senses of clink, e.g., ‘to fasten securely’ (cf. ‘to get the clinch,’ CLINCH sb. 7), might have given rise to it. Cf. also CLINK sb.4]
The name of a noted prison in Southwark; also used elsewhere (esp. in Devon and Cornwall) for a small and dismal prison or prison-cell, a lock-up.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, I. (1570), A. v/4. Then art thou clapped in the Flete or Clinke.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 1464/1. He was … had to the Clinke, and after to the Counter in the Poultrie.
1575. Gascoigne, Herbs, Wks. (1587), 171. The rest was close in clinke.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 325. Our author … was committed first to the Gatehouse in Westminster, and afterwards to the Clink in Southwark.
1761. London & Environs, II. 147. Clink prison in Clink Street, belongs to the liberty of the Bishop of Winchester, called the Clink liberty…. It is a very dismal hole where debtors are sometimes confined.
1772. Howard, Prisons Eng., 380. (Plymouth Town Gaol) Two rooms for Felons … One … the Clink, seventeen feet by eight, about five feet and a half high, with a wicket in the door seven inches by five to admit light and air.
1836. Marryat, Japhet, lviii. I was thrust into the clink, or lock-up house, as the magistrates would not meet that evening.
1863. Sala, Capt. Dang., I. iv. 112. A Clink, where wantons are sent to be whipped and beat hemp.
1880. W. Cornw. Gloss., Clink, a small room where vagabonds and drunkards are confined.
