n. — Newfoundland
a person believed to bring bad luck.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — Jinker is a Newfoundland word synonymous with "Jonah", a term popular amongst sailors for people who bring bad luck aboard a ship (COD-2, s.v. "Jonah" (2)). The exact origin of the term is unknown, though it may derive from the verb "jinx" (COD-2, s.v. "jinker"). Alternatively, it may have been preserved from Scottish English, where a jinker is someone who plays tricks (EDD, s.v. "jink" (3)), and then semantically changed to a person who brings bad luck. While the term is seen most often within the nautical context, there is evidence of it spreading to other domains (see the 2004 quotation).
See also COD-2, s.v. "jinker", which is marked "Cdn (Nfld)", Gage-1, s.v. "jinker" (2), which is marked "Cdn. in Newfoundland", DNE, s.v. "jinker", EDD, s.v. "jinker", which labels it "Nfld.".