tinkern.¹

Brit.

/ˈtɪŋkə/, U.S.

/ˈtɪŋkər/

Forms: early Middle English teneker, early Middle English tinckare, early Middle English tineker, early Middle English tinekere, early Middle English tyncher, early Middle English tynckere, early Middle English tyneker, early Middle English tynekere, Middle English tenker, Middle English tinkere, Middle English tynekar, Middle English tyngkere, Middle English tynkare, Middle English tynkere, Middle English–1600s tincker, Middle English–1600s tynker, Middle English– tinker, 1500s tinkar, 1500s tinkarde, 1500s tyncar, 1500s tyncarde, 1500s tyncker, 1500s tynkar, 1500s tynkard, 1700s tinckar (Scottish), 1500s–1600s (1700s Scottish) tinkard.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: tin n., tink v.¹, -er suffix¹.

Etymology: Either (i) < tin n. + an extended form of -er suffix¹ (see note), or (ii) < tink v.¹ (although this is first attested later) + -er suffix¹. Compare tinkler n.¹ and tinner n.The origin of the k is unclear. If option (i) in the discussion above is correct, it may be comparable to a similar suffix attested in occupational surnames in Old Frisian, in which -ker (as opposed to -er ) has diminutive and pejorative connotations. Alternatively, the k may have arisen by analogy with earlier nouns of occupation ending in -ker , where the k is part of the stem (e.g. waulker n.). For the possibility that the k reflects a suffix forming verbs compare option (ii) and the discussion at tink v.¹ Significance of tin. Tin is a key ingredient of certain types of solder used to repair metal objects, and also of pewter, which was used both for ecclesiastical vessels (from at least the 11th cent.) and subsequently increasingly for tableware. While tinner n. 1 (chiefly denoting a pewterer) and tinker n.¹ do not appear to refer to exactly the same trade, there is some evidence for overlap in early uses, e.g. in the 15th cent. Promptorium Parvulorum, where tynkare and tynnare are used to gloss the same Latin word in different manuscripts. Continued association between the craft of a tinker and a pewterer may be implied by quot. 1598 at tinkling adj.² Later uses. Subsequently (as early as the 15th cent.) tinker is often associated with tink int., tink n.¹, and tink v.² In Scotland, tinkler n.¹ was apparently the earlier word for this profession (tinker n.¹ is only attested there from the mid 17th cent); in northern England, both types are already attested in early Middle English (as surnames). In sense 3 after tinker v.

I. Senses relating to the mending of metalware.

a. A person who makes a living by mending pots and other metal household utensils, esp. on an itinerant basis. Now chiefly historical.Such people, esp. itinerants, were historically held in low repute, as shown by various proverbial expressions, and perhaps reinforced by the identification of the term with the sense ‘vagrant’, ‘Gypsy’ (see sense 1b). See Phrases 1, and not to care, give, be worth, (etc.), a tinker's curse, cuss, or damn at Phrases 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > mender > [noun] > of pots, kettles, etc.

tinkler?c1214

tinker1243

prig1567

kettler1604

kettleman1629

ting-tang1633

1243 in C. E. H. C. Healey Somersetshire Pleas (1897) 304 Robert le Tinker.

c1265 in 6th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS: Pt. I (1877) App. 578/2 in Parl. Papers (C. 1745) XLVII. 1 [The lowest assessment is that of] Editha le Tynekere [at 2 pence].

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. Prol. l. 220 Taillours and tynkeres & tolleres in marketes.

1566 in E. Peacock Eng. Church Furnit. (1866) 33 One crysmatorie sold to a tincker.

1597 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 108 The tynkard for mendynge of mylkinge vessells vij^d.

1674 Warrant for Arrest in Westm. Gaz. 16 Mar. (1904) 5/1 One John Bunnyon of yor said Towne Tynker hath divers times within one Month last past..preached or teached at a Conventicle Meeteing or assembly under color or pretence of exercise of Religion.

1717 M. Prior Alma iii. 577 And, for the metal, The coin may mend a tinker's kettle.

1832 C. Babbage Econ. Machinery & Manuf. i. 10 Worn-out saucepans and tin ware..beyond the reach of the tinker's art.

2002 M. McGrath Silvertown (2003) i. 13 A little later the coal man, the beigel man, the cat's meat man, the haberdasher, the tinker, the pie man and the rag and boner begin making their way along St Leonard's Road.

b. British and Irish English. Chiefly derogatory. Any itinerant trader, performer, or beggar; spec. (esp. Scottish and Irish English) a Traveller, Gypsy, or other person living in an itinerant community. Sometimes also: a vagabond, tramp, or disreputable person. Cf. tinkler n.¹Sometimes (esp. formerly) spec. in Irish tinker, now frequently regarded as derogatory or offensive; cf. Irish Traveller n. at Irish adj. and n. Compounds 3.The application of the term to Gypsies seems to have arisen because, historically, selling and mending metalware on an itinerant basis was their chief occupation, especially in Scotland and Ireland.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > ethnicities > race > nomads > [noun] > Gipsies or Romanies > person

gyptian1533

Egyptian1538

Bohemian1574

Gypsy1574

tinker1575

Zingani1581

Zingaro1600

moonman1608

faw1756

vagabond1756

Zingara1756

gitano1761

gitanac1770

nomade1798

Roman1800

Romani1800

Tzigane1802

Zigeuner1802

Sinti1827

piker1838

pikey1838

Rom1841

Zincalo1841

Romanichal1843

nomadian1847

Romany chai1851

didicoi1853

Bedouin1863

gyppo1868

gyp1886

society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > vagrancy or vagabondage > vagabond or tramp

harlot?c1225

raikera1400

vacabond1404

vagrant1444

gangrela1450

briber?c1475

palliard1484

vagabondc1485

rogue1489

wavenger1493

hermit1495

gaberlunzie1508

knight of the field1508

loiterer1530

straggler1530

runagate1534

ruffler1535

hedge-creeper1548

Abraham man1567

cursitor1567

runner1567

walker1567

tinker1575

traveller1598

Tartar1602

stravagant1606

wagand1614

Circumcellion1623

meechera1625

hedge-bird1631

gaberlunzie man1649

tramp1664

stroller1681

jockey1685

bird of passage1717

randy1724

tramper1760

stalko1804

vagabondager1813

rintherout1814

piker1838

pikey1838

beachcomber1840

roadster1851

vagabondizer1860

roustabout1862

bum1864

migratory1866

potter1867

sundowner1868

vag1868

walkabout1872

transient1877

Murrumbidgee whaler1878

rouster1882

run-the-hedge1882

whaler1883

shaughraun1884

heather-cat1886

hobo1889

tussocker1889

gay cat1893

overlander1898

stake-man1899

stiff1899

bindle-stiff1900

dingbat1902

stew-bum1902

tired Tim (also Timothy)1906

skipper1925

Strandlooper1927

knight of the road1928

hobohemian1936

plain turkey1955

scrub turkey1955

derro1963

jakey1988

crusty1990

1575 J. Awdely Fraternitye of Vacabondes (new ed.) sig. A3 A Tinkard leaueth his bag a sweating at the Alehouse..and..goeth abrode a begging.

1597 Act 39 Eliz. c. 4 §2 All Juglers Tynkers Pedlers and Petty Chapmen wandring abroade.

1609 R. Armin Hist. Two Maids More-clacke sig. C4 Lady. Is this the tinker you talke on? Hum. I madame of Twitnam, I haue seene him licke out burning fire brands with's tongue, drinke two pense from the bottome of a full pottle of ale [etc.].

1795 Scots Mag. June 407/1 The civil magistrate of the place [sc. Dumfries] applied to the commanding officer of the 1st fencibles, for a party to aid in apprehending some Irish tinkers, who were in a house about a mile and a half distant from the town.

1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod iii. v. §29 Another itinerant, who seems in some degree to have rivalled the lower classes of the jugglers, was the tinker.

1896 K. Tynan in Westm. Gaz. 14 Nov. 1/3 The ‘tinkers’ are the gipsies of the Irish country-side... Tinkering is their ostensible trade, but they are supposed not to be particular about meum and tuum. They are a wild lawless set, and ‘tinker’ has come to be an abusive term in Ireland from its association with them.

1932 S. O'Faoláin Midsummer Night Madness in Coll. Stories (1980) I. 43 She's as good as the next.., even though she is only a tinker's daughter.

1987 E. Newby Round Ireland in Low Gear (1988) iii. 41 He talked about Irish tinkers or, as they themselves like to be called, ‘travelling people’.

2006 J. Uglow Nature's Engraver 333 For years this fell had been common land, where the tinkers and gypsy ‘muggers’..kept their donkeys.

c. A clumsy or inefficient mender; a botcher. Also: an amateur or casual enthusiast or experimenter, a tinkerer. Frequently figurative.With quot. 1682, compare a tinker mends one hole and makes two at Phrases 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > unskilful action or working > clumsy or unskilful putting together > one who

clouterc1440

tinker1583

cobbler1594

tinkerer1827

noodler1955

1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus (new ed.) sig. Xij Thou haste more worke at home, then suche a tinker as thou, canne well botche.

1682 W. Richards Wallography 114 They are a kind of Tinkers in the Law, who usually make holes on purpose that they may mend them.

1856 Examiner 26 Apr. 257/2 Our legislators for the most part are mere tinkers of law, whose highest skill is to patch up some defect.

1905 Westm. Gaz. 13 Oct. 3/1 Not so, however, the new Secretary of State proved himself, but a ‘tinker’ like the rest.

2015 St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press (Nexis) 6 July Many of the early innovators in the personal computer industry also were seen as mere tinkers until the world discovered their talents.

d. British colloquial. As a term of mild contempt, often used affectionately or playfully: a mischievous child, a rascal. Frequently in little tinker. Cf. beggar n. 6.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > roguery, knavery, or rascalry > [noun] > playful or mischievous roguery > young or playful rogue

urchinc1525

rascal1601

limb1625

imp1642

pickle1779

impling1780

rip1781

scamp1808

hempy1818

flibbertigibbet1826

tinker1855

faggot1859

skeezicks1908

1855 ‘H. Whitney’ Legends Mt. Leinster iv. 98 Why you terrible tinker,..are you going to turn me out of my own kitchen?

1925 R. Rees Lake of Enchantment 50 I'll soon settle the young tinker if he's up to them tricks.

1953 K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xiv. 124 She's a little tinker... Even you couldn't do anything with her.

1971 G. Sims Deadhand ii. viii. 141 Did the boys scare you? I expect they did. The tinkers!

2017 New Musical Express (Nexis) 20 June Some absolute rotter—some unconscionable gremlin, some little tinker—stole my wellies in the middle of a mud bath at Glastonbury.

†2. U.S. Weaponry. More fully tinker's mortar. A small mortar fixed on the end of a staff, and fired by means of a trigger and lanyard. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1786 F. Grose Treat. Anc. Armour p. xviii An uncommon engine, supposed to be a tinker's mortar, which being fixed on a stick was used for throwing grenades.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2575/2 Tinker, a small mortar on the end of a staff.

3. An act or bout of tinkering; an attempt at mending or improving something experimentally, as an amateur or a casual enthusiast, or without expertise. Frequently in to have a tinker.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > mending or repairing > [noun] > clumsily > act of

patch-up1819

tinker1857

cobble1859

the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > unskilful action or working > clumsy or unskilful putting together > instance or result of

cloutery1581

clampera1664

tinker1857

cobble1859

kludge1962

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. i. 4 They must..spend their time and money in having a tinker at it.

2006 Hull Daily Mail (Nexis) 4 May 61 It's unwise to change things too radically in the season anyway, so we are just going to have a tinker with a few things on the way.

II. As the name of an animal, esp. a bird or fish. See also Compounds 2.

a. Newfoundland and Labrador. The razorbill, Alca torda.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Alcidae (auks) > [noun] > genus Alca > alca torda (razor-bill)

murre1578

scout1596

willock1606

falk1698

razorbilla1705

turr1794

sea-crow1813

razorbill auk1829

tinker1862

razorbill puffin1865

1771 G. Cartwright Jrnl. Resid. Coast Labrador 1 June (1792) I. 128 They killed a duck and a tinker.

1862 E. Coues in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1861 251 It [sc. the razor-billed auk] is known..to all fishermen and eggers..by the singular name of ‘Tinker’.

1963 J. T. Rowland North to Adventure xi. 156 We were constantly raising small flocks of Labrador ducks and ‘tinkers’ [etc.].

2006 Islands Apr. 113/3 Before the day was out we would see hundreds of tinkers—razorbill auks—and turrs, the local name for both species of murre.

b. English regional. The common guillemot, Uria aalge; cf. tinkershere n. 1. Now historical and rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Alcidae (auks) > [noun] > member of genus Uria (guillemot)

coot1382

murre1578

scout1596

guillem1603

willock1606

kiddaw1674

sea-hen1676

guillemot1678

loom1694

lavy1698

foolish guillemot1776

willy1780

turr1794

tinkershere1799

strany1804

spratter1863

bacalao-bird1865

tinker1880

1880 Encycl. Brit. XI. 262/2 Around the coasts of Britain it [sc. the Guillemot] is variously known as the Frowl, Kiddaw or Skiddaw, Langy (cf. Icelandic, Langeia), Lavy, Marrock, Murre, Scout (cf. Coot..), Scuttock, Strany, Tinker or Tinkershire, and Willock.

1993 Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist. & Archaeol. Soc. 114 219/2 Some of the recently past generation of fishermen still called these birds Tinkershires, Tinkers or Tinks.

a. A stickleback (family Gasterosteidae); spec. the nine-spined stickleback, Pungitius pungitius. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Gasterosteiformes (sticklebacks) > [noun] > family Gasterosteidae > member of (stickleback)

sticklinga1400

stitlingc1425

sticklebacka1475

shaftling1558

sharpling1558

stansticklea1637

hackle1655

pricklefish1668

prickling1668

jack sharp?1758

tittlebat1781

Jack Sharpnails1787

thorny-back1811

struttle1821

bandie1825

tinker1833

thornback1859

tiddler1885

1833 Parent's Cabinet Amusem. & Instr. 2 17 Hush, do not make a noise, there is a little shoal coming this way. Oh! they are only tinkers. You do not want tinkers, do you, Charles?

1856 E. Newman in Zoologist 14 5125 The Tinker or 9-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus lævis).

1930 Illustr. London News 15 Nov. 874/1 I have referred to the stickleback, as though there were but one species. And to the layman this is so... He will remember the ‘tinkers’ which he not infrequently caught... As a matter of fact, these ‘tinkers’ represent not merely a distinct species, but a distinct genus.

b. The common skate, Dipturus batis. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > subclass Elasmobranchii > order Hypotremata > [noun] > family Rajidae > member of genus Raia (skate)

skatec1340

flathec1440

maid1569

maid-fish1665

flair1668

maiden-skatea1795

skate maid1836

tinker1836

flapper-skate1839

roker1860

rajoid1890

1836 W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Fishes II. 421 The Skate. Blue Skate, and Grey Skate, Scotland. Tinker, Lyme Regis.

1980 T. Stobart Cook's Encycl. 376/1 The Common skate or tinker of Europe (Raja batis) has a long, pointed snout and smooth skin.

c. North American. A small or young mackerel (genus Scomber); = tinker mackerel n. at Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Scombroidei (mackerel) > [noun] > family Scombridae > genus Scomber > member of (mackerel)

mackerelc1300

yellowtaila1622

Scomber1623

tinker1848

Spanish mackerel1880

Monterey mackerel1884

thimble-eye1888

shiner1836

tinker1848

tinker mackerel1851

blink1884

spike1884

1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms Tinker, small mackerel. New England.

1902 D. S. Jordan & B. W. Evermann Amer. Food & Game Fishes 275 Small mackerel are known among fishermen as..‘tinkers’... Tinkers are under 9 inches long and are supposed to be about 2 years old.

2012 Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.) (Nexis) 28 June (ROP ed.) (Sports section) 22 The larger mackerel..seem to have moved away but tinkers are in good supply around the 70- to 80-foot contour.

†d. North American. The Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1890 Cent. Dict. at Silversides The most abundant species along the Atlantic coast of the United States is Menidia notata, also called friar, tailor, and tinker, 5 inches long, of a transparent greenish color with silver band.

†6. Newfoundland. A kind of seal (unidentified). Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1891 Cent. Dict. Tinker,..11. A kind of seal. [Newfoundland].

Phrases

†P1. Proverbial phrase a tinker mends one hole and makes two and variants. Also figurative (cf. sense 1c). Obsolete.Cf. quot. 1645 for tinkerwise adv. at Derivatives and quots. ?1706, 1753 for tinker-like adj. and adv. at Derivatives.

ΚΠ

1564 T. Dorman Proufe Certeyne Articles in Relig. f. 73^v The false tincker that mendeth one hole and maketh two newe.

1690 T. Long Vox Cleri 45 That reproach, which is endeavoured to be fixed on some of us, of being Ecclesiastical Tinkers, who undertaking to mend one hole, do usually make two or three.

a1704 T. Brown Declam. Praise Poverty (rev. ed.) in Wks. (1730) I. 89 To cure one hole, like a true tinker, he here makes two.

1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 89 You have mended it, as a Tinker mends a Kettle; stop one Hole, and make two.

P2. not to care, give, be worth, (etc.), a tinker's curse, cuss, or damn and variants: not to care or be worth anything. Also elliptically not to care, give, be worth, (etc.), a tinker's. [An intensification of the earlier ‘not to care, or be worth, a curse or damn’ (see curse n. 2, damn n. Phrases 2), with reference to tinkers’ supposed penchant for profanity: see 1. Compare also quot. 1884, in which ‘not to care a straw’ is similarly intensified.] A conjecture suggesting a link with soldering appears in quot. 1875 and is repeated with variations elsewhere, but the alleged sense of tinker's dam seems to lack supporting contextual evidence and is therefore not covered in this entry. Instances of the phrase with the spelling dam may show awareness of this theory, but are more likely simply to be using a spelling considered more polite than damn (see dam at damn adj. and adv. Forms).

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2575/2 Tinker's-dam, a wall of dough raised around a place which a plumber desires to flood with a coat of solder. The material can be but once used; being consequently thrown away as worthless, it has passed into a proverb, usually involving the wrong spelling of the otherwise innocent word ‘dam’.]

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > be unimportant [verb (intransitive)] > be of little worth

not to care, give, be worth, (etc.), a tinker's curse, cuss, or damn1578

1578 G. Whetstone Promos & Cassandra: 1st Pt. iv. vii. sig. F.i Nay, for my head, care not a Tinkers torde.

1813 D. W. Paynter Godfrey Ranger II. viii. 143 ‘They a'n't worth a pedlar's curse!’ ‘You mean a tinker's curse, friend!’.

1817 N. Y. Evening Post 6 June 2/3 Not worth a tinker's blessing!

1839 H. D. Thoreau Jrnl. 25 Apr. (1981) I. 72 'Tis true they are not worth a ‘tinker's damn’.

1862 C. F. Browne Artemus Ward his Bk. 155 Not keerin a tinker's cuss.

1884 St. James's Gaz. 24 Apr. 12/1 I don't care two tinkers' straws if you do.

1947 O. Sitwell Novels of G. Meredith 4 The human being who is not worth a tinker's cuss,—or, in a more elegant simile, two hoots—does not exist.

1967 Boston Globe 18 May 27/1 No program, no reform, no matter how well meant, is worth a tinker's dam without it.

1983 J. Symons Name of Annabel Lee ii. viii. 139 I don't give a tinker's, if you'll forgive the old fashioned way of putting it, who killed Ira Wolfdale.

2005 B. Keating & S. Keating Blood Sisters (2006) xxvii. 527 You bloody well knew that was the way she felt about you. But you didn't give a tinker's curse about that, did you Anthony?

P3. In various similative expressions relating to the low repute of tinkers, as to swear like a tinker, as drunk as a tinker, etc.

ΚΠ

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Il iure comme vn Abbé [etc.], [he swears] like a Tinker, say we.

1630 T. Dekker Second Pt. Honest Whore iv. i. 207 [He] swore like a dozen of drunken Tinkers.

1705 S. Centlivre Gamester i. i. 3 Behold his Picture..no Powder in his Perriwig,..Sword-knot unty'd; no Gloves, and Hands and Face as dirty as a Tinker.

1848 Freeman's Jrnl. 23 Feb. He had nothing to offer in defence except the indisputable fact that he was as drunk as a tinker when he was chase-ing up and down through the gutter in Thomas-street.

1964 H. Speier tr. H. J. Christoffel Courage, Adventuress ii. 96 I assiduously learned how to swear like a trooper and to drink like a tinker.

2000 B. Kingsolver Prodigal Summer xxi. 347 She wondered what kind of parental substitute she was—encouraging Crys to swear like a tinker, for instance.

Compounds

C1. General use as a modifier, and with other nouns with the sense ‘that is a tinker’, as in tinker-preacher, tinker-tool, etc.

ΚΠ

1603 J. Willoughbie Mnemosynon Kyrio-euchariston 103 Yet these Tinker-budghets come in and say, that Christ did, sitting at his last supper, even before his Passion, consecrate and offer himselfe vp a sacrifice, which must then be twise.

1857 G. Borrow Romany Rye I. xix. 243 Tinker-tools.

1900 Westm. Gaz. 26 May 8/1 Bedford..so intimately associated with the tinker-preacher's life and work.

1982 Colorado Springs Gaz. Tel. 11 Dec. d44 A realistic drama exposes a taut racial triangle as whites, blacks and Irish tinker gypsies collide on a path destined to end in violence.

2016 T. Trent Tinker King 41 I knock at the boiler with my wrench, thinking of the old Tinker songs my uncles would sing outside the train cars as they worked on fixing anything from leather harnesses to small engines.

C2.

tinkerbird n. South African East African any of several small African barbets of the genus Pogoniulus (family Lybiidae), having a call that sounds like repetitive hammering.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Piciformes > [noun] > family Capitonidae (barbet) > genus Pogoniulus (tinker-bird)

tinkerbird1864

tinktinkie1874

1864 Ibis 6 353 Little Tinker Barbet... The note of this curious little bird so much resembles the tapping of a hammer on an anvil (having that peculiar metallic ring), that it is called in Natal the Tinker-bird.

1960 G. Durrell Zoo in my Luggage 12 A tinker-bird was giving its monotonous cry, toink..toink..toink.., like someone beating forever on a tiny anvil.

2013 Tanzania Daily News (Nexis) 17 Mar. In the bush beyond we heard tinkerbirds (tonk tonk tonk) and cameropteras..(pyeek pyeek pyeek pyeek).

tinker mackerel n. North American a small or young mackerel (genus Scomber); = sense 5c.

ΘΚΠ

shiner1836

tinker1848

tinker mackerel1851

blink1884

spike1884

1851 M. H. Perley Catal. Fishes New Brunswick & Nova Scotia 6 Scomber grex would seem to be those little Mackerel about ten inches in length, which are found in scattered numbers every where, and are called by the fishermen of the Bay of Fundy, ‘tinker Mackerel’, from their wandering habits.

1952 E. Weeks in Atlantic Aug. 79/2 I have seen one of these steel rods bring in thirty tinker mackerel by trolling pork rind through the schools.

2002 Sport Fishing Sept. 70/1 Favorite fall baits include butterfish, bunker, sand eels..and whole tinker mackerel.

Derivatives

ˈtinkerdom n. the realm or domain of a tinker or tinkers; the condition or practice of being a tinker.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > ethnicities > race > nomads > [noun] > way of life or ethos

gypsydom1833

tinkerdom1834

nomadism1841

Bedouinism1865

society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > vagrancy or vagabondage > vagabond or tramp > world of

tinkerdom1834

trampdom1891

Vagabondia1894

hobohemia1923

hobodom1930

1834 T. Carlyle Let. 27 June in J. A. Froude T. Carlyle: First Fourty Years (1882) II. 440 Yet the noble Hunt receives you in his Tinkerdom in the spirit of a king.

1994 Irish Times (Nexis) 23 June 13 Many of them still work in a descendent trade from tinkerdom, in..the scrapmetal industry.

ˈtinker-like adj. and adv. now rare

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adverb] > in unworkmanlike manner > in a botched manner

tinker-like1596

tinkerwise1645

botchily1882

the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adjective] > unskilled in art or craft > putting together clumsily > clumsily put together

cloutedc1380

bodged1519

botched1537

tinkerly?1576

tinker-like1596

cobbled1798

botchy1843

bodgie1905

haywire1905

bodgied1974

bodgied-up1988

1596 H. Clapham Briefe of Bible i. 80 Hee reareth vp an Idole..appointing Tinker-like fellowes for sacrificing Priestes.

?1706 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft: 2nd Pt. viii. 90 Lest we make Tinker-like Work, like that of the Presbyterian-Directory, mend one hole, and make two.

1753 T. Cibber Let. to Warburton 53 This unmerciful Editor, who, Tinker-like, makes many Holes for one he mends.

1893 Echo 29 Aug. 4/2 This evil cannot be dealt with in a tinker-like manner, by a few local laws, and by a local police force.

ˈtinkerwise adv. rare in the manner of a tinker.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adverb] > in unworkmanlike manner > in a botched manner

tinker-like1596

tinkerwise1645

botchily1882

1645 J. Cleveland Char. London Diurnall 8 For what did this Parliament ever goe about to reforme, but Tinker-wise; in mending one Hole they made three.

1963 W. Starkie Scholars & Gypsies i. v. 110 The dwarf-like poet James Stephens would suddenly appear in the door like a visitant from another planet and, squatting tinkerwise on the floor before the hob, would insist on interrupting.

ˈtinkery n. rare the business of a tinker (as a modifier in quot. 1630); (also) the action of tinkering.

ΚΠ

1630 Tincker of Turvey 4 A Budget fastened with a Thong..wherein are All his Tooles, and Tinkery ware.

?1840 M. E. Bennett Gipsey Bride iv. 99 The men pretend to basket-making, farriery, tinkery, and so forth; and the women to fortune-telling, and trinket-selling.

1888 Morning Post 24 Dec. 4 The Republican idea does not exclude an infinite variety in the way of jobbery and tinkery.

2011 Wales on Sunday (Nexis) 29 May 20 A process in which they went back to basics and recorded the whole thing - minus any computer tinkery.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

tinkerv.

Brit.

/ˈtɪŋkə/, U.S.

/ˈtɪŋkər/

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: tinker n.¹

Etymology: < tinker n.¹ Compare earlier tinkering n. Compare also earlier tink v.¹ (especially with sense 2).Although it is attested later than sense 1, it is likely that sense 2 was the original sense.

a. transitive. To work at (something immaterial) in a clumsy or makeshift way, to use trial and error to make gradual adjustments to (something), esp. by way of attempted repair or improvement. Frequently with up.In quot. 1598 in figurative context, probably implying earlier currency of sense 2b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > restore [verb (transitive)] > restore to state of wholeness or completeness > as by patching, etc.

solderc1420

patch1532

plaster1546

to piece up1586

tinker1598

solder1607

1598 E. Guilpin Skialetheia sig. A3^v Whose hap shall be to reade these pedler rimes, Let them expect no elaborat foolery... Bunglers stande long in tinck'ring their trim Say, Ile onely spit my venome, and away.

1694 W. Nicholls Ess. Contempt of World iii. iv. 116 The Nation is strangely pestered with these selfconceited Opinionators..whose Education has hardly been beyond the Anvil, and yet they would fain be tinkering the Church and State.

1768 H. Walpole Hist. Doubts Pref. 6 Chronology and astronomy are forced to tinker up and reconcile, as well as they can, those uncertainties [of ancient history].

1879 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times II. xxv. 257 Little plans of adjustment were tinkered up and tried.

1887 J. R. Lowell Democracy & Other Addr. 38 Men are prone to be tinkering the work of their own hands.

1946 S. T. Felstead Stars who made Halls xviii. 182 In the West End of London..[revues] possessed the advantage of being amenable to tinkering up if one or two items went flat.

2005 W. Prytulak Working for Living xi. 87 Each time elections are held the political system is tinkered at the edges creating the impression of people freely exerting their power.

b. intransitive. To work at something immaterial in a clumsy or makeshift way; to use trial and error to make gradual adjustments, esp. by way of attempted repair or improvement. Also more generally: to occupy oneself with something in a casual or desultory way; to trifle, potter. Frequently with at, with.In quot. 1658 in figurative context, probably implying earlier currency of sense 2a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > cause to be idle or inactive [verb (transitive)] > occupy oneself triflingly with

tinker1655

saunter1672

mess1853

the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > do something unskilfully [verb (intransitive)]

to spin a fair thread1546

tinker1655

the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity

trifle?a1400

loiterc1400

tiffc1440

tifflec1440

to pick a salad1520

to play the wanton1529

fiddle1530

dauntc1540

piddle1545

dally?1548

pittlea1568

pingle1574

puddle1591

to thrum caps1594

maginate1623

meecha1625

pudder1624

dabble1631

fanfreluche1653

dawdlea1656

taigle17..

niff-naff1728

tiddle1747

peddle1755

gammer1788

quiddle1789

muddle1791

browse1803

niddle1808

poke1811

fal-lal1818

potter1824

footer1825

putter1827

shaffle1828

to fool about1838

mike1838

piffle1847

mess1853

to muck about1856

tinker1856

bohemianize1857

to fool around1860

frivol1866

june1869

muss1876

to muddle about (also around)1877

slummock1877

dicker1888

moodle1893

to fart about1899

to fart about (or around)1899

plouter1899

futz1907

monkey1916

to arse around1919

to play around1929

to fuck around1931

tool1932

frig1933

boondoggle1935

to muck around1935

to screw around1935

to bugger about1937

to bugger around1939

to piss about1943

to dick around1948

to jerk around1953

fart-arse1954

to fanny around1969

slop1973

dork1982

to twat around (or about)1992

to dick about1996

1655 R. Farmer Myst. Godl. & Ungodl. Ep. to Rdr. sig. A4 And some folks will be tinckering, though they get others to stop the cracks both of sense and English.

1658 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 2nd Pt. 145 He that will be tinkering with his own heart, and not seek out to heaven for help, will in the end finde where he mends one hole, heel makes two worse.

1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xiii. 134 When in-doors and at rest, tinkering over their ivory harness-rings.

1880 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times IV. lviii. 258 The public were tired of government which merely tinkered at legislation.

1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman 193 Parliaments and synods may tinker as much as they please with their codes and creeds.

1955 Times 2 May 13/7 Nobody is prepared to tinker with a social structure that has withstood every kind of outside pressure.

2010 M. Rapkin Theater Geek vii. 166 They run through act one, and the choreographer is still tinkering.

a. intransitive. To occupy oneself, fiddle with something, esp. by way of attempted repair or improvement; to mend a material object, esp. in a clumsy, makeshift, or imperfect way. Also: to work as a tinker; to mend items of metalware (now rare).

ΚΠ

1663 Conversion Exemplified To Rdr. sig. A7 The Keeper of a prison is quiet while his Prisoners are so, but if he..perceives them tinkering with their Fetters, or making the least provision for an escape, he doubles his Guards, and encreases their weight of Iron.

1839 Belfast News Let. 1 Nov. While tinker tinkered, he sung ‘Brian O'Lynn’.

1897 Denver Evening Post 10 Mar. 3/3 The companies which operate underground conduits are expected to repair all asphalt pavement torn out while tinkering with their pipes.

1927 Science 27 May 524/2 Eielson had frozen his fingers severely when tinkering barehanded with metal tools.

2013 New Yorker 4 Feb. 54/3 His father was a veterinarian and a metalworking hobbyist, who tinkered with his Lotuses and Mini Coopers in the back yard while his younger son looked on.

b. transitive. To mend (an item of metalware) as a tinker. More generally: to mend (any material object) in a clumsy, imperfect, or makeshift way; to attempt to repair or improve, to patch up.Quot. 1598 at sense 1a probably implies earlier currency of this sense.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > mending or repairing > [verb (transitive)] > mend pots, kettles, etc.

tink1522

tinker1769

society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > mending or repairing > [verb (transitive)] > clumsily or in makeshift manner

cobble1496

bodge1552

botcha1680

tinker1814

nigger-rig1977

1769 J. Wedgwood Let. 23 Feb. in Sel. Lett. (1965) 71 I have settled a plan..to Tinker all the black Vases that are crooked.

1814 T. Jefferson Writings (1830) IV. 240 However we may tinker them [sc. our machines] up for a while, all will at length surcease motion.

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 325/1 If the old article were of good quality, it was polished and tinkered up for sale in the Saturday evening street-markets, and often ‘went off well’.

1885 S. O. Jewett in Harper's Mag. Jan. 209/2 She tinkered the rickety bee-hives.

1947 L. Hastings Dragons are Extra i. 25 He collected second-hand cars... Tinkering them up, and practising the same sort of cannibalism that long after became an M.T. necessity in modern war.

2017 ‘S. A. J. Gothinus’ My Amer. Harp (e-book, accessed 6 Feb. 2019) 568 No one needs you to attend your backyard..tinkering engines of airplanes and cars, For those things are made in huge factories That operate now in China and Mexico.

3. transitive. To restore (a person) to health, esp. by means of medical or surgical treatment. Frequently with up. Now rare (chiefly historical).

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > heal or cure [verb (transitive)] > restore to health

healc1000

temperc1000

recoverc1330

covera1375

restorec1384

recovera1398

rectifya1400

revert1446

recruita1661

re-establish1664

to set up1686

to bring toa1796

reinstate1810

tinker1823

recuperate1849

to bring about1854

to pick up1857

to fetch round1870

re-edify1897

to pull round1900

1823 Morning Chron. 6 Sept. If..the King should be blown into a thousand and one pieces, Prince Hohenlohe can tinker him up again, and make him ‘as sound as a bell’.

1835 F. B. Head in S. Smiles Publisher & Friends (1891) II. xxxi. 362 The waters will tinker you up in a most extraordinary manner.

1899 G. M. Fenn Crimson Crime 4 Even when I was tinkering him after his accident and doing my best to make him sound, he'd lie..about his medicine.

1935 H. Carr Los Angeles vii. 73 When Governor Victoria was brought to San Gabriel apparently dying from a wound from the lance of Abila, El Inglés took him in hand; tinkered him together again as good as new.

1994 C. Harrod-Eagles I, Victoria 92 I should like to last it out. Tinker me up, can't you, Halford, to get me through it? I should like to see the Waterloo sun set.

†4. transitive. Boxing slang. To batter, maul (an opponent). Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1826 Sporting Mag. July 253/2 Tom completely tinkered his antagonist's upper crust.

Derivatives

ˈtinkered adj. (also tinkered-up.)

ΚΠ

1797 J. Wilde Sequel Addr. to Soc. Friends of People 56 They continue to hive on the cracked tympana of their battered and tinkered democracy.

1867 J. A. Froude Short Stud. 1st Ser. I. 40 The reconciliation..is no tinkered-up truce, or convenient Interim.

2004 L. Ullman & M. Liyanage Mac OS X Panther Timesaving Techniques for Dummies ii. ix. 77 Reset all the ‘tinkered’ settings back to the Panther defaults.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	tinker
释义	tinkern.¹ Brit. /ˈtɪŋkə/, U.S. /ˈtɪŋkər/ Forms: early Middle English teneker, early Middle English tinckare, early Middle English tineker, early Middle English tinekere, early Middle English tyncher, early Middle English tynckere, early Middle English tyneker, early Middle English tynekere, Middle English tenker, Middle English tinkere, Middle English tynekar, Middle English tyngkere, Middle English tynkare, Middle English tynkere, Middle English–1600s tincker, Middle English–1600s tynker, Middle English– tinker, 1500s tinkar, 1500s tinkarde, 1500s tyncar, 1500s tyncarde, 1500s tyncker, 1500s tynkar, 1500s tynkard, 1700s tinckar (Scottish), 1500s–1600s (1700s Scottish) tinkard. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: tin n., tink v.¹, -er suffix¹. Etymology: Either (i) < tin n. + an extended form of -er suffix¹ (see note), or (ii) < tink v.¹ (although this is first attested later) + -er suffix¹. Compare tinkler n.¹ and tinner n.The origin of the k is unclear. If option (i) in the discussion above is correct, it may be comparable to a similar suffix attested in occupational surnames in Old Frisian, in which -ker (as opposed to -er ) has diminutive and pejorative connotations. Alternatively, the k may have arisen by analogy with earlier nouns of occupation ending in -ker , where the k is part of the stem (e.g. waulker n.). For the possibility that the k reflects a suffix forming verbs compare option (ii) and the discussion at tink v.¹ Significance of tin. Tin is a key ingredient of certain types of solder used to repair metal objects, and also of pewter, which was used both for ecclesiastical vessels (from at least the 11th cent.) and subsequently increasingly for tableware. While tinner n. 1 (chiefly denoting a pewterer) and tinker n.¹ do not appear to refer to exactly the same trade, there is some evidence for overlap in early uses, e.g. in the 15th cent. Promptorium Parvulorum, where tynkare and tynnare are used to gloss the same Latin word in different manuscripts. Continued association between the craft of a tinker and a pewterer may be implied by quot. 1598 at tinkling adj.² Later uses. Subsequently (as early as the 15th cent.) tinker is often associated with tink int., tink n.¹, and tink v.² In Scotland, tinkler n.¹ was apparently the earlier word for this profession (tinker n.¹ is only attested there from the mid 17th cent); in northern England, both types are already attested in early Middle English (as surnames). In sense 3 after tinker v. I. Senses relating to the mending of metalware. 1. a. A person who makes a living by mending pots and other metal household utensils, esp. on an itinerant basis. Now chiefly historical.Such people, esp. itinerants, were historically held in low repute, as shown by various proverbial expressions, and perhaps reinforced by the identification of the term with the sense ‘vagrant’, ‘Gypsy’ (see sense 1b). See Phrases 1, and not to care, give, be worth, (etc.), a tinker's curse, cuss, or damn at Phrases 2. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > mender > [noun] > of pots, kettles, etc. tinkler?c1214 tinker1243 prig1567 kettler1604 kettleman1629 ting-tang1633 1243 in C. E. H. C. Healey Somersetshire Pleas (1897) 304 Robert le Tinker. c1265 in 6th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS: Pt. I (1877) App. 578/2 in Parl. Papers (C. 1745) XLVII. 1 [The lowest assessment is that of] Editha le Tynekere [at 2 pence]. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. Prol. l. 220 Taillours and tynkeres & tolleres in marketes. 1566 in E. Peacock Eng. Church Furnit. (1866) 33 One crysmatorie sold to a tincker. 1597 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 108 The tynkard for mendynge of mylkinge vessells vij^d. 1674 Warrant for Arrest in Westm. Gaz. 16 Mar. (1904) 5/1 One John Bunnyon of yor said Towne Tynker hath divers times within one Month last past..preached or teached at a Conventicle Meeteing or assembly under color or pretence of exercise of Religion. 1717 M. Prior Alma iii. 577 And, for the metal, The coin may mend a tinker's kettle. 1832 C. Babbage Econ. Machinery & Manuf. i. 10 Worn-out saucepans and tin ware..beyond the reach of the tinker's art. 2002 M. McGrath Silvertown (2003) i. 13 A little later the coal man, the beigel man, the cat's meat man, the haberdasher, the tinker, the pie man and the rag and boner begin making their way along St Leonard's Road. b. British and Irish English. Chiefly derogatory. Any itinerant trader, performer, or beggar; spec. (esp. Scottish and Irish English) a Traveller, Gypsy, or other person living in an itinerant community. Sometimes also: a vagabond, tramp, or disreputable person. Cf. tinkler n.¹Sometimes (esp. formerly) spec. in Irish tinker, now frequently regarded as derogatory or offensive; cf. Irish Traveller n. at Irish adj. and n. Compounds 3.The application of the term to Gypsies seems to have arisen because, historically, selling and mending metalware on an itinerant basis was their chief occupation, especially in Scotland and Ireland. ΘΚΠ the world > people > ethnicities > race > nomads > [noun] > Gipsies or Romanies > person gyptian1533 Egyptian1538 Bohemian1574 Gypsy1574 tinker1575 Zingani1581 Zingaro1600 moonman1608 faw1756 vagabond1756 Zingara1756 gitano1761 gitanac1770 nomade1798 Roman1800 Romani1800 Tzigane1802 Zigeuner1802 Sinti1827 piker1838 pikey1838 Rom1841 Zincalo1841 Romanichal1843 nomadian1847 Romany chai1851 didicoi1853 Bedouin1863 gyppo1868 gyp1886 society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > vagrancy or vagabondage > vagabond or tramp harlot?c1225 raikera1400 vacabond1404 vagrant1444 gangrela1450 briber?c1475 palliard1484 vagabondc1485 rogue1489 wavenger1493 hermit1495 gaberlunzie1508 knight of the field1508 loiterer1530 straggler1530 runagate1534 ruffler1535 hedge-creeper1548 Abraham man1567 cursitor1567 runner1567 walker1567 tinker1575 traveller1598 Tartar1602 stravagant1606 wagand1614 Circumcellion1623 meechera1625 hedge-bird1631 gaberlunzie man1649 tramp1664 stroller1681 jockey1685 bird of passage1717 randy1724 tramper1760 stalko1804 vagabondager1813 rintherout1814 piker1838 pikey1838 beachcomber1840 roadster1851 vagabondizer1860 roustabout1862 bum1864 migratory1866 potter1867 sundowner1868 vag1868 walkabout1872 transient1877 Murrumbidgee whaler1878 rouster1882 run-the-hedge1882 whaler1883 shaughraun1884 heather-cat1886 hobo1889 tussocker1889 gay cat1893 overlander1898 stake-man1899 stiff1899 bindle-stiff1900 dingbat1902 stew-bum1902 tired Tim (also Timothy)1906 skipper1925 Strandlooper1927 knight of the road1928 hobohemian1936 plain turkey1955 scrub turkey1955 derro1963 jakey1988 crusty1990 1575 J. Awdely Fraternitye of Vacabondes (new ed.) sig. A3 A Tinkard leaueth his bag a sweating at the Alehouse..and..goeth abrode a begging. 1597 Act 39 Eliz. c. 4 §2 All Juglers Tynkers Pedlers and Petty Chapmen wandring abroade. 1609 R. Armin Hist. Two Maids More-clacke sig. C4 Lady. Is this the tinker you talke on? Hum. I madame of Twitnam, I haue seene him licke out burning fire brands with's tongue, drinke two pense from the bottome of a full pottle of ale [etc.]. 1795 Scots Mag. June 407/1 The civil magistrate of the place [sc. Dumfries] applied to the commanding officer of the 1st fencibles, for a party to aid in apprehending some Irish tinkers, who were in a house about a mile and a half distant from the town. 1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod iii. v. §29 Another itinerant, who seems in some degree to have rivalled the lower classes of the jugglers, was the tinker. 1896 K. Tynan in Westm. Gaz. 14 Nov. 1/3 The ‘tinkers’ are the gipsies of the Irish country-side... Tinkering is their ostensible trade, but they are supposed not to be particular about meum and tuum. They are a wild lawless set, and ‘tinker’ has come to be an abusive term in Ireland from its association with them. 1932 S. O'Faoláin Midsummer Night Madness in Coll. Stories (1980) I. 43 She's as good as the next.., even though she is only a tinker's daughter. 1987 E. Newby Round Ireland in Low Gear (1988) iii. 41 He talked about Irish tinkers or, as they themselves like to be called, ‘travelling people’. 2006 J. Uglow Nature's Engraver 333 For years this fell had been common land, where the tinkers and gypsy ‘muggers’..kept their donkeys. c. A clumsy or inefficient mender; a botcher. Also: an amateur or casual enthusiast or experimenter, a tinkerer. Frequently figurative.With quot. 1682, compare a tinker mends one hole and makes two at Phrases 1. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > unskilful action or working > clumsy or unskilful putting together > one who clouterc1440 tinker1583 cobbler1594 tinkerer1827 noodler1955 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus (new ed.) sig. Xij Thou haste more worke at home, then suche a tinker as thou, canne well botche. 1682 W. Richards Wallography 114 They are a kind of Tinkers in the Law, who usually make holes on purpose that they may mend them. 1856 Examiner 26 Apr. 257/2 Our legislators for the most part are mere tinkers of law, whose highest skill is to patch up some defect. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 13 Oct. 3/1 Not so, however, the new Secretary of State proved himself, but a ‘tinker’ like the rest. 2015 St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press (Nexis) 6 July Many of the early innovators in the personal computer industry also were seen as mere tinkers until the world discovered their talents. d. British colloquial. As a term of mild contempt, often used affectionately or playfully: a mischievous child, a rascal. Frequently in little tinker. Cf. beggar n. 6. ΘΚΠ society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > roguery, knavery, or rascalry > [noun] > playful or mischievous roguery > young or playful rogue urchinc1525 rascal1601 limb1625 imp1642 pickle1779 impling1780 rip1781 scamp1808 hempy1818 flibbertigibbet1826 tinker1855 faggot1859 skeezicks1908 1855 ‘H. Whitney’ Legends Mt. Leinster iv. 98 Why you terrible tinker,..are you going to turn me out of my own kitchen? 1925 R. Rees Lake of Enchantment 50 I'll soon settle the young tinker if he's up to them tricks. 1953 K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xiv. 124 She's a little tinker... Even you couldn't do anything with her. 1971 G. Sims Deadhand ii. viii. 141 Did the boys scare you? I expect they did. The tinkers! 2017 New Musical Express (Nexis) 20 June Some absolute rotter—some unconscionable gremlin, some little tinker—stole my wellies in the middle of a mud bath at Glastonbury. †2. U.S. Weaponry. More fully tinker's mortar. A small mortar fixed on the end of a staff, and fired by means of a trigger and lanyard. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1786 F. Grose Treat. Anc. Armour p. xviii An uncommon engine, supposed to be a tinker's mortar, which being fixed on a stick was used for throwing grenades. 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2575/2 Tinker, a small mortar on the end of a staff. 3. An act or bout of tinkering; an attempt at mending or improving something experimentally, as an amateur or a casual enthusiast, or without expertise. Frequently in to have a tinker. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > mending or repairing > [noun] > clumsily > act of patch-up1819 tinker1857 cobble1859 the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > unskilful action or working > clumsy or unskilful putting together > instance or result of cloutery1581 clampera1664 tinker1857 cobble1859 kludge1962 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. i. 4 They must..spend their time and money in having a tinker at it. 2006 Hull Daily Mail (Nexis) 4 May 61 It's unwise to change things too radically in the season anyway, so we are just going to have a tinker with a few things on the way. II. As the name of an animal, esp. a bird or fish. See also Compounds 2. 4. a. Newfoundland and Labrador. The razorbill, Alca torda. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Alcidae (auks) > [noun] > genus Alca > alca torda (razor-bill) murre1578 scout1596 willock1606 falk1698 razorbilla1705 turr1794 sea-crow1813 razorbill auk1829 tinker1862 razorbill puffin1865 1771 G. Cartwright Jrnl. Resid. Coast Labrador 1 June (1792) I. 128 They killed a duck and a tinker. 1862 E. Coues in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1861 251 It [sc. the razor-billed auk] is known..to all fishermen and eggers..by the singular name of ‘Tinker’. 1963 J. T. Rowland North to Adventure xi. 156 We were constantly raising small flocks of Labrador ducks and ‘tinkers’ [etc.]. 2006 Islands Apr. 113/3 Before the day was out we would see hundreds of tinkers—razorbill auks—and turrs, the local name for both species of murre. b. English regional. The common guillemot, Uria aalge; cf. tinkershere n. 1. Now historical and rare. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Alcidae (auks) > [noun] > member of genus Uria (guillemot) coot1382 murre1578 scout1596 guillem1603 willock1606 kiddaw1674 sea-hen1676 guillemot1678 loom1694 lavy1698 foolish guillemot1776 willy1780 turr1794 tinkershere1799 strany1804 spratter1863 bacalao-bird1865 tinker1880 1880 Encycl. Brit. XI. 262/2 Around the coasts of Britain it [sc. the Guillemot] is variously known as the Frowl, Kiddaw or Skiddaw, Langy (cf. Icelandic, Langeia), Lavy, Marrock, Murre, Scout (cf. Coot..), Scuttock, Strany, Tinker or Tinkershire, and Willock. 1993 Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist. & Archaeol. Soc. 114 219/2 Some of the recently past generation of fishermen still called these birds Tinkershires, Tinkers or Tinks. 5. a. A stickleback (family Gasterosteidae); spec. the nine-spined stickleback, Pungitius pungitius. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Gasterosteiformes (sticklebacks) > [noun] > family Gasterosteidae > member of (stickleback) sticklinga1400 stitlingc1425 sticklebacka1475 shaftling1558 sharpling1558 stansticklea1637 hackle1655 pricklefish1668 prickling1668 jack sharp?1758 tittlebat1781 Jack Sharpnails1787 thorny-back1811 struttle1821 bandie1825 tinker1833 thornback1859 tiddler1885 1833 Parent's Cabinet Amusem. & Instr. 2 17 Hush, do not make a noise, there is a little shoal coming this way. Oh! they are only tinkers. You do not want tinkers, do you, Charles? 1856 E. Newman in Zoologist 14 5125 The Tinker or 9-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus lævis). 1930 Illustr. London News 15 Nov. 874/1 I have referred to the stickleback, as though there were but one species. And to the layman this is so... He will remember the ‘tinkers’ which he not infrequently caught... As a matter of fact, these ‘tinkers’ represent not merely a distinct species, but a distinct genus. b. The common skate, Dipturus batis. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > subclass Elasmobranchii > order Hypotremata > [noun] > family Rajidae > member of genus Raia (skate) skatec1340 flathec1440 maid1569 maid-fish1665 flair1668 maiden-skatea1795 skate maid1836 tinker1836 flapper-skate1839 roker1860 rajoid1890 1836 W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Fishes II. 421 The Skate. Blue Skate, and Grey Skate, Scotland. Tinker, Lyme Regis. 1980 T. Stobart Cook's Encycl. 376/1 The Common skate or tinker of Europe (Raja batis) has a long, pointed snout and smooth skin. c. North American. A small or young mackerel (genus Scomber); = tinker mackerel n. at Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Scombroidei (mackerel) > [noun] > family Scombridae > genus Scomber > member of (mackerel) mackerelc1300 yellowtaila1622 Scomber1623 tinker1848 Spanish mackerel1880 Monterey mackerel1884 thimble-eye1888 the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Scombroidei (mackerel) > [noun] > family Scombridae > genus Scomber > member of (mackerel) > at certain stage in life shiner1836 tinker1848 tinker mackerel1851 blink1884 spike1884 1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms Tinker, small mackerel. New England. 1902 D. S. Jordan & B. W. Evermann Amer. Food & Game Fishes 275 Small mackerel are known among fishermen as..‘tinkers’... Tinkers are under 9 inches long and are supposed to be about 2 years old. 2012 Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.) (Nexis) 28 June (ROP ed.) (Sports section) 22 The larger mackerel..seem to have moved away but tinkers are in good supply around the 70- to 80-foot contour. †d. North American. The Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1890 Cent. Dict. at Silversides The most abundant species along the Atlantic coast of the United States is Menidia notata, also called friar, tailor, and tinker, 5 inches long, of a transparent greenish color with silver band. †6. Newfoundland. A kind of seal (unidentified). Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1891 Cent. Dict. Tinker,..11. A kind of seal. [Newfoundland]. Phrases †P1. Proverbial phrase a tinker mends one hole and makes two and variants. Also figurative (cf. sense 1c). Obsolete.Cf. quot. 1645 for tinkerwise adv. at Derivatives and quots. ?1706, 1753 for tinker-like adj. and adv. at Derivatives. ΚΠ 1564 T. Dorman Proufe Certeyne Articles in Relig. f. 73^v The false tincker that mendeth one hole and maketh two newe. 1690 T. Long Vox Cleri 45 That reproach, which is endeavoured to be fixed on some of us, of being Ecclesiastical Tinkers, who undertaking to mend one hole, do usually make two or three. a1704 T. Brown Declam. Praise Poverty (rev. ed.) in Wks. (1730) I. 89 To cure one hole, like a true tinker, he here makes two. 1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 89 You have mended it, as a Tinker mends a Kettle; stop one Hole, and make two. P2. not to care, give, be worth, (etc.), a tinker's curse, cuss, or damn and variants: not to care or be worth anything. Also elliptically not to care, give, be worth, (etc.), a tinker's. [An intensification of the earlier ‘not to care, or be worth, a curse or damn’ (see curse n. 2, damn n. Phrases 2), with reference to tinkers’ supposed penchant for profanity: see 1. Compare also quot. 1884, in which ‘not to care a straw’ is similarly intensified.] A conjecture suggesting a link with soldering appears in quot. 1875 and is repeated with variations elsewhere, but the alleged sense of tinker's dam seems to lack supporting contextual evidence and is therefore not covered in this entry. Instances of the phrase with the spelling dam may show awareness of this theory, but are more likely simply to be using a spelling considered more polite than damn (see dam at damn adj. and adv. Forms). 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2575/2 Tinker's-dam, a wall of dough raised around a place which a plumber desires to flood with a coat of solder. The material can be but once used; being consequently thrown away as worthless, it has passed into a proverb, usually involving the wrong spelling of the otherwise innocent word ‘dam’.] ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > be unimportant [verb (intransitive)] > be of little worth not to care, give, be worth, (etc.), a tinker's curse, cuss, or damn1578 1578 G. Whetstone Promos & Cassandra: 1st Pt. iv. vii. sig. F.i Nay, for my head, care not a Tinkers torde. 1813 D. W. Paynter Godfrey Ranger II. viii. 143 ‘They a'n't worth a pedlar's curse!’ ‘You mean a tinker's curse, friend!’. 1817 N. Y. Evening Post 6 June 2/3 Not worth a tinker's blessing! 1839 H. D. Thoreau Jrnl. 25 Apr. (1981) I. 72 'Tis true they are not worth a ‘tinker's damn’. 1862 C. F. Browne Artemus Ward his Bk. 155 Not keerin a tinker's cuss. 1884 St. James's Gaz. 24 Apr. 12/1 I don't care two tinkers' straws if you do. 1947 O. Sitwell Novels of G. Meredith 4 The human being who is not worth a tinker's cuss,—or, in a more elegant simile, two hoots—does not exist. 1967 Boston Globe 18 May 27/1 No program, no reform, no matter how well meant, is worth a tinker's dam without it. 1983 J. Symons Name of Annabel Lee ii. viii. 139 I don't give a tinker's, if you'll forgive the old fashioned way of putting it, who killed Ira Wolfdale. 2005 B. Keating & S. Keating Blood Sisters (2006) xxvii. 527 You bloody well knew that was the way she felt about you. But you didn't give a tinker's curse about that, did you Anthony? P3. In various similative expressions relating to the low repute of tinkers, as to swear like a tinker, as drunk as a tinker, etc. ΚΠ 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Il iure comme vn Abbé [etc.], [he swears] like a Tinker, say we. 1630 T. Dekker Second Pt. Honest Whore iv. i. 207 [He] swore like a dozen of drunken Tinkers. 1705 S. Centlivre Gamester i. i. 3 Behold his Picture..no Powder in his Perriwig,..Sword-knot unty'd; no Gloves, and Hands and Face as dirty as a Tinker. 1848 Freeman's Jrnl. 23 Feb. He had nothing to offer in defence except the indisputable fact that he was as drunk as a tinker when he was chase-ing up and down through the gutter in Thomas-street. 1964 H. Speier tr. H. J. Christoffel Courage, Adventuress ii. 96 I assiduously learned how to swear like a trooper and to drink like a tinker. 2000 B. Kingsolver Prodigal Summer xxi. 347 She wondered what kind of parental substitute she was—encouraging Crys to swear like a tinker, for instance. Compounds C1. General use as a modifier, and with other nouns with the sense ‘that is a tinker’, as in tinker-preacher, tinker-tool, etc. ΚΠ 1603 J. Willoughbie Mnemosynon Kyrio-euchariston 103 Yet these Tinker-budghets come in and say, that Christ did, sitting at his last supper, even before his Passion, consecrate and offer himselfe vp a sacrifice, which must then be twise. 1857 G. Borrow Romany Rye I. xix. 243 Tinker-tools. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 26 May 8/1 Bedford..so intimately associated with the tinker-preacher's life and work. 1982 Colorado Springs Gaz. Tel. 11 Dec. d44 A realistic drama exposes a taut racial triangle as whites, blacks and Irish tinker gypsies collide on a path destined to end in violence. 2016 T. Trent Tinker King 41 I knock at the boiler with my wrench, thinking of the old Tinker songs my uncles would sing outside the train cars as they worked on fixing anything from leather harnesses to small engines. C2. tinkerbird n. South African East African any of several small African barbets of the genus Pogoniulus (family Lybiidae), having a call that sounds like repetitive hammering. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Piciformes > [noun] > family Capitonidae (barbet) > genus Pogoniulus (tinker-bird) tinkerbird1864 tinktinkie1874 1864 Ibis 6 353 Little Tinker Barbet... The note of this curious little bird so much resembles the tapping of a hammer on an anvil (having that peculiar metallic ring), that it is called in Natal the Tinker-bird. 1960 G. Durrell Zoo in my Luggage 12 A tinker-bird was giving its monotonous cry, toink..toink..toink.., like someone beating forever on a tiny anvil. 2013 Tanzania Daily News (Nexis) 17 Mar. In the bush beyond we heard tinkerbirds (tonk tonk tonk) and cameropteras..(pyeek pyeek pyeek pyeek). tinker mackerel n. North American a small or young mackerel (genus Scomber); = sense 5c. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Scombroidei (mackerel) > [noun] > family Scombridae > genus Scomber > member of (mackerel) > at certain stage in life shiner1836 tinker1848 tinker mackerel1851 blink1884 spike1884 1851 M. H. Perley Catal. Fishes New Brunswick & Nova Scotia 6 Scomber grex would seem to be those little Mackerel about ten inches in length, which are found in scattered numbers every where, and are called by the fishermen of the Bay of Fundy, ‘tinker Mackerel’, from their wandering habits. 1952 E. Weeks in Atlantic Aug. 79/2 I have seen one of these steel rods bring in thirty tinker mackerel by trolling pork rind through the schools. 2002 Sport Fishing Sept. 70/1 Favorite fall baits include butterfish, bunker, sand eels..and whole tinker mackerel. Derivatives ˈtinkerdom n. the realm or domain of a tinker or tinkers; the condition or practice of being a tinker. ΘΚΠ the world > people > ethnicities > race > nomads > [noun] > way of life or ethos gypsydom1833 tinkerdom1834 nomadism1841 Bedouinism1865 society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > vagrancy or vagabondage > vagabond or tramp > world of tinkerdom1834 trampdom1891 Vagabondia1894 hobohemia1923 hobodom1930 1834 T. Carlyle Let. 27 June in J. A. Froude T. Carlyle: First Fourty Years (1882) II. 440 Yet the noble Hunt receives you in his Tinkerdom in the spirit of a king. 1994 Irish Times (Nexis) 23 June 13 Many of them still work in a descendent trade from tinkerdom, in..the scrapmetal industry. ˈtinker-like adj. and adv. now rare ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adverb] > in unworkmanlike manner > in a botched manner tinker-like1596 tinkerwise1645 botchily1882 the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adjective] > unskilled in art or craft > putting together clumsily > clumsily put together cloutedc1380 bodged1519 botched1537 tinkerly?1576 tinker-like1596 cobbled1798 botchy1843 bodgie1905 haywire1905 bodgied1974 bodgied-up1988 1596 H. Clapham Briefe of Bible i. 80 Hee reareth vp an Idole..appointing Tinker-like fellowes for sacrificing Priestes. ?1706 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft: 2nd Pt. viii. 90 Lest we make Tinker-like Work, like that of the Presbyterian-Directory, mend one hole, and make two. 1753 T. Cibber Let. to Warburton 53 This unmerciful Editor, who, Tinker-like, makes many Holes for one he mends. 1893 Echo 29 Aug. 4/2 This evil cannot be dealt with in a tinker-like manner, by a few local laws, and by a local police force. ˈtinkerwise adv. rare in the manner of a tinker. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adverb] > in unworkmanlike manner > in a botched manner tinker-like1596 tinkerwise1645 botchily1882 1645 J. Cleveland Char. London Diurnall 8 For what did this Parliament ever goe about to reforme, but Tinker-wise; in mending one Hole they made three. 1963 W. Starkie Scholars & Gypsies i. v. 110 The dwarf-like poet James Stephens would suddenly appear in the door like a visitant from another planet and, squatting tinkerwise on the floor before the hob, would insist on interrupting. ˈtinkery n. rare the business of a tinker (as a modifier in quot. 1630); (also) the action of tinkering. ΚΠ 1630 Tincker of Turvey 4 A Budget fastened with a Thong..wherein are All his Tooles, and Tinkery ware. ?1840 M. E. Bennett Gipsey Bride iv. 99 The men pretend to basket-making, farriery, tinkery, and so forth; and the women to fortune-telling, and trinket-selling. 1888 Morning Post 24 Dec. 4 The Republican idea does not exclude an infinite variety in the way of jobbery and tinkery. 2011 Wales on Sunday (Nexis) 29 May 20 A process in which they went back to basics and recorded the whole thing - minus any computer tinkery. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022). tinkern.² Brit. /ˈtɪŋkə/, U.S. /ˈtɪŋkər/ Forms: 1600s–1900s tinkar, 1700s– tinker. Also with capital initial. Origin: From a proper name. Etymon: proper name Dr Tinkar. Etymology: < the name of Dr Tinkar (unidentified), reportedly the first physician (of European origin) to use the plant medicinally. In later use in the form tinker probably partly remodelled after tinker n.¹ (especially in forms with lower-case initial, which are found from the 19th cent. onwards). 1. tinker's-weed n. (in early use also †Dr. Tinker's weed) any of the North American plants of the genus Triosteum (family Caprifoliaceae), spec. fever-root, T. perfoliatum; = tinker-weed n. at sense 2. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Caprifoliaceae family or plant > [noun] > other plants tinker's-weed1691 tinker-weed1828 horse-gentian1864 1691 L. Plukenet Phytographia ii. Pl. CIV Periclymenum herbaceum rectum Virginianum D^r Tinkarsweed ibi vulgo vocatum. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 300/2 Doctor Tinker's Weed, Triosteum. 1808 Med. Repository 2nd Hexade 5 130 Triosteum perfoliatum, Lin. fever-root, or tinker's-weed. 1991 Restoration & Managem. Notes Summer 18/1 When we reached inside the storage bags we pulled out multicolored handfuls of lumpy, oozy glop containing the red and orange fruits of tinker's weeds (Triosteum sp.). 2012 Pennsylvania Game News June 52/2 Frankly, I had never heard of wild coffee, also called perfoliate horse gentian, fever-root, feverwort and tinker's-weed. 2. tinker-weed n. any of the North American plants of the genus Triosteum (family Caprifoliaceae), spec. fever-root, T. perfoliatum; = tinker's-weed n. at sense 1. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Caprifoliaceae family or plant > [noun] > other plants tinker's-weed1691 tinker-weed1828 horse-gentian1864 1828 A. J. L. Jourdan Pharmacopée Universelle II. 631/1 Trioste,..Triosteum perfoliatum, L. Feverroot, bastard ipecacuanha, tinkerweed. 1830 C. S. Rafinesque Med. Flora U.S. II. 269 Triosteum Perfoliatum or Majus, Linn. Fever root, Tinker weed, Horse Ginseng, etc. 1896 Cottage Physician 418 Fever-Root (Triosteum perfoliatum) Tinker-Weed, Wild Ipecac. A good cathartic, acts much like jalap. 1967 H. W. Rickett Wild Flowers U.S. (Southeastern States) II. ii. xiii. 458/1 The tinkerweeds are not very attractive plants which have nevertheless a surprising number of common names. †3. Tinker's root n. (also Dr. Tinker's root) Obsolete the root of the North American plant Triosteum perfoliatum, used medicinally, esp. as an emetic and febrifuge; (also) the plant itself. ΚΠ 1834 G. Don Gen. Hist. Dichlamydeous Plants III. 443/2 It was first brought into notice by Dr. Tinkar, and hence it has been called Tinkar's root. 1882 Ogilvie's Imperial Dict. (new ed.) Tinkar's-root. (From Dr. Tinkar, who first brought the root into notice.) A North American shrub (Triosteum perfoliatum). 1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 744 The root, under the name of Tinker's root, is used medicinally. 1907 Pharmaceut. Era 24 Oct. 394/2 Dr. Tinker's root is evidently a synonym for ‘Tinker's weed’. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022). tinkerv. Brit. /ˈtɪŋkə/, U.S. /ˈtɪŋkər/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: tinker n.¹ Etymology: < tinker n.¹ Compare earlier tinkering n. Compare also earlier tink v.¹ (especially with sense 2).Although it is attested later than sense 1, it is likely that sense 2 was the original sense. 1. a. transitive. To work at (something immaterial) in a clumsy or makeshift way, to use trial and error to make gradual adjustments to (something), esp. by way of attempted repair or improvement. Frequently with up.In quot. 1598 in figurative context, probably implying earlier currency of sense 2b. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > restore [verb (transitive)] > restore to state of wholeness or completeness > as by patching, etc. solderc1420 patch1532 plaster1546 to piece up1586 tinker1598 solder1607 1598 E. Guilpin Skialetheia sig. A3^v Whose hap shall be to reade these pedler rimes, Let them expect no elaborat foolery... Bunglers stande long in tinck'ring their trim Say, Ile onely spit my venome, and away. 1694 W. Nicholls Ess. Contempt of World iii. iv. 116 The Nation is strangely pestered with these selfconceited Opinionators..whose Education has hardly been beyond the Anvil, and yet they would fain be tinkering the Church and State. 1768 H. Walpole Hist. Doubts Pref. 6 Chronology and astronomy are forced to tinker up and reconcile, as well as they can, those uncertainties [of ancient history]. 1879 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times II. xxv. 257 Little plans of adjustment were tinkered up and tried. 1887 J. R. Lowell Democracy & Other Addr. 38 Men are prone to be tinkering the work of their own hands. 1946 S. T. Felstead Stars who made Halls xviii. 182 In the West End of London..[revues] possessed the advantage of being amenable to tinkering up if one or two items went flat. 2005 W. Prytulak Working for Living xi. 87 Each time elections are held the political system is tinkered at the edges creating the impression of people freely exerting their power. b. intransitive. To work at something immaterial in a clumsy or makeshift way; to use trial and error to make gradual adjustments, esp. by way of attempted repair or improvement. Also more generally: to occupy oneself with something in a casual or desultory way; to trifle, potter. Frequently with at, with.In quot. 1658 in figurative context, probably implying earlier currency of sense 2a. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > cause to be idle or inactive [verb (transitive)] > occupy oneself triflingly with tinker1655 saunter1672 mess1853 the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > do something unskilfully [verb (intransitive)] to spin a fair thread1546 tinker1655 the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity trifle?a1400 loiterc1400 tiffc1440 tifflec1440 to pick a salad1520 to play the wanton1529 fiddle1530 dauntc1540 piddle1545 dally?1548 pittlea1568 pingle1574 puddle1591 to thrum caps1594 maginate1623 meecha1625 pudder1624 dabble1631 fanfreluche1653 dawdlea1656 taigle17.. niff-naff1728 tiddle1747 peddle1755 gammer1788 quiddle1789 muddle1791 browse1803 niddle1808 poke1811 fal-lal1818 potter1824 footer1825 putter1827 shaffle1828 to fool about1838 mike1838 piffle1847 mess1853 to muck about1856 tinker1856 bohemianize1857 to fool around1860 frivol1866 june1869 muss1876 to muddle about (also around)1877 slummock1877 dicker1888 moodle1893 to fart about1899 to fart about (or around)1899 plouter1899 futz1907 monkey1916 to arse around1919 to play around1929 to fuck around1931 tool1932 frig1933 boondoggle1935 to muck around1935 to screw around1935 to bugger about1937 to bugger around1939 to piss about1943 to dick around1948 to jerk around1953 fart-arse1954 to fanny around1969 slop1973 dork1982 to twat around (or about)1992 to dick about1996 1655 R. Farmer Myst. Godl. & Ungodl. Ep. to Rdr. sig. A4 And some folks will be tinckering, though they get others to stop the cracks both of sense and English. 1658 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 2nd Pt. 145 He that will be tinkering with his own heart, and not seek out to heaven for help, will in the end finde where he mends one hole, heel makes two worse. 1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xiii. 134 When in-doors and at rest, tinkering over their ivory harness-rings. 1880 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times IV. lviii. 258 The public were tired of government which merely tinkered at legislation. 1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman 193 Parliaments and synods may tinker as much as they please with their codes and creeds. 1955 Times 2 May 13/7 Nobody is prepared to tinker with a social structure that has withstood every kind of outside pressure. 2010 M. Rapkin Theater Geek vii. 166 They run through act one, and the choreographer is still tinkering. 2. a. intransitive. To occupy oneself, fiddle with something, esp. by way of attempted repair or improvement; to mend a material object, esp. in a clumsy, makeshift, or imperfect way. Also: to work as a tinker; to mend items of metalware (now rare). ΚΠ 1663 Conversion Exemplified To Rdr. sig. A7 The Keeper of a prison is quiet while his Prisoners are so, but if he..perceives them tinkering with their Fetters, or making the least provision for an escape, he doubles his Guards, and encreases their weight of Iron. 1839 Belfast News Let. 1 Nov. While tinker tinkered, he sung ‘Brian O'Lynn’. 1897 Denver Evening Post 10 Mar. 3/3 The companies which operate underground conduits are expected to repair all asphalt pavement torn out while tinkering with their pipes. 1927 Science 27 May 524/2 Eielson had frozen his fingers severely when tinkering barehanded with metal tools. 2013 New Yorker 4 Feb. 54/3 His father was a veterinarian and a metalworking hobbyist, who tinkered with his Lotuses and Mini Coopers in the back yard while his younger son looked on. b. transitive. To mend (an item of metalware) as a tinker. More generally: to mend (any material object) in a clumsy, imperfect, or makeshift way; to attempt to repair or improve, to patch up.Quot. 1598 at sense 1a probably implies earlier currency of this sense. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > mending or repairing > [verb (transitive)] > mend pots, kettles, etc. tink1522 tinker1769 society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > mending or repairing > [verb (transitive)] > clumsily or in makeshift manner cobble1496 bodge1552 botcha1680 tinker1814 nigger-rig1977 1769 J. Wedgwood Let. 23 Feb. in Sel. Lett. (1965) 71 I have settled a plan..to Tinker all the black Vases that are crooked. 1814 T. Jefferson Writings (1830) IV. 240 However we may tinker them [sc. our machines] up for a while, all will at length surcease motion. 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 325/1 If the old article were of good quality, it was polished and tinkered up for sale in the Saturday evening street-markets, and often ‘went off well’. 1885 S. O. Jewett in Harper's Mag. Jan. 209/2 She tinkered the rickety bee-hives. 1947 L. Hastings Dragons are Extra i. 25 He collected second-hand cars... Tinkering them up, and practising the same sort of cannibalism that long after became an M.T. necessity in modern war. 2017 ‘S. A. J. Gothinus’ My Amer. Harp (e-book, accessed 6 Feb. 2019) 568 No one needs you to attend your backyard..tinkering engines of airplanes and cars, For those things are made in huge factories That operate now in China and Mexico. 3. transitive. To restore (a person) to health, esp. by means of medical or surgical treatment. Frequently with up. Now rare (chiefly historical). ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > heal or cure [verb (transitive)] > restore to health healc1000 temperc1000 recoverc1330 covera1375 restorec1384 recovera1398 rectifya1400 revert1446 recruita1661 re-establish1664 to set up1686 to bring toa1796 reinstate1810 tinker1823 recuperate1849 to bring about1854 to pick up1857 to fetch round1870 re-edify1897 to pull round1900 1823 Morning Chron. 6 Sept. If..the King should be blown into a thousand and one pieces, Prince Hohenlohe can tinker him up again, and make him ‘as sound as a bell’. 1835 F. B. Head in S. Smiles Publisher & Friends (1891) II. xxxi. 362 The waters will tinker you up in a most extraordinary manner. 1899 G. M. Fenn Crimson Crime 4 Even when I was tinkering him after his accident and doing my best to make him sound, he'd lie..about his medicine. 1935 H. Carr Los Angeles vii. 73 When Governor Victoria was brought to San Gabriel apparently dying from a wound from the lance of Abila, El Inglés took him in hand; tinkered him together again as good as new. 1994 C. Harrod-Eagles I, Victoria 92 I should like to last it out. Tinker me up, can't you, Halford, to get me through it? I should like to see the Waterloo sun set. †4. transitive. Boxing slang. To batter, maul (an opponent). Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1826 Sporting Mag. July 253/2 Tom completely tinkered his antagonist's upper crust. Derivatives ˈtinkered adj. (also tinkered-up.) ΚΠ 1797 J. Wilde Sequel Addr. to Soc. Friends of People 56 They continue to hive on the cracked tympana of their battered and tinkered democracy. 1867 J. A. Froude Short Stud. 1st Ser. I. 40 The reconciliation..is no tinkered-up truce, or convenient Interim. 2004 L. Ullman & M. Liyanage Mac OS X Panther Timesaving Techniques for Dummies ii. ix. 77 Reset all the ‘tinkered’ settings back to the Panther defaults. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.¹1243n.²1691v.1598
随便看	quick-hearted quick-heel quick-in-hand quick-knit quick-labouring quick-line quick-loader quick-loading quick-look quick-lunch quick-luncheon quick-march quick-match quick-minded quick-mire quick-moving quick-nosed quick-paced quick-piercing quick-reaction quick-reaction force quick-release radioallergosorbent test radioanalysis radioanalytic

tinkern.1

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tinkern.2

tinkerv.

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tinkern.¹

tinkern.²