E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Winkle (Rip van).
A Dutch colonist of New York. He met with a strange man in a ravine of the Kaatskill Mountains. Rip helps him to carry a keg, and when they reach the destination Rip sees a number of odd creatures playing ninepins, but no one utters a word. Master Winkle seizes the first opportunity to take a sip at the keg, falls into a stupor, and sleeps for twenty years. On waking, his wife is dead and buried, his daughter is married, his native village has been remodelled, and America has become independent. (Washington Irving.)
