Wiktionary

Tinkerbell

English edit

Etymology edit

After a fairy in J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan (1902), in which the name is spelled Tinker Bell. She was described by Barrie as a fairy who mended pots and kettles, like an actual tinker, and her speech consists of the sounds of a tinkling bell.

Pronunciation edit

  • Audio (AU)(file)

Noun edit

Tinkerbell (plural Tinkerbells)

  1. Anything whose existence or power depends on the faith of believers.
    • 1988, Caroline Arden, Getting the Donkey Out of the Ditch: The Democratic Party in Search of Itself, page 104:
      I characterize it as the "Tinkerbell Approach" to policy development: It might work if all the children would just believe hard enough and clap their hands
    • 1994, Alice Thomas Ellis, Cat Among the Pigeons: A Catholic Miscellany, page 57:
      Sometimes I get the impression that the Tinkerbell theory is taking over: that the existence of God is dependent on our own existence and perceptions.
    • 2003, William Lehr, Lorenzo M. Pupillo, Cyber policy and economics in an internet age, page 92:
      The New.net venture underlined an important principle: ICANN's authority over the DNS root is fundamentally subject to the "Tinkerbell" principle.
  2. (slang, derogatory, offensive) A homosexual or effeminate man.
    • 1986, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources Subcommittee, Federal and Local Governments' Response to the AIDS Epidemic, page 287:
      When he confronted his boss he screamed at him about being gay and fired him saying he didn't want "Tinkerbells" working for him.

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