1 a candle 20.
2 a piece of wood dipped in melted sulphur so as to be easily ignited, a match 20-. etymology: origin obscure, perhaps onomatopoeic; form blinkin attested by Perthshire Tinkler Gypsies; form blinkum attested in Shelta ‘a light, candle, window’; form blinkum sense 2 attested by BS in TDITA and SS; collected by EMcC/PS; blink ‘a light’ note:
Grose and Egan (1823) attest the form blink ‘a light’ as ‘Cant’.
Canadian Paul Pope (2013) attests blinkum deeklie and defines it as ‘a match’.