Wiktionary

tinker

See also: Tinker

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English tynkere, perhaps from Old English *tincere, from tin (“tin”) +‎ *cere, as in bēocere (“beekeeper”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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tinker (plural tinkers)

  1. An itinerant tinsmith and mender of household utensils made of metal.
    • 1988, “Mayhem Maybe”, in Ian Anderson (music), 20 Years of Jethro Tull, performed by Jethro Tull:
      The blacksmith chased us all to ground
      They searched all night we were never found
      The tinker boys and the sheriff's men
      Shaking the tallest tree.
  2. (dated, chiefly British and Ireland, offensive) A member of the Irish Traveller community or of other itinerant groups; a gypsy.
  3. (usually with "little") A mischievous person, especially a playful, impish youngster.
  4. Someone who repairs, or attempts repair, on anything mechanical, or who invents such devices; one who tinkers; a tinkerer.
  5. (informal) An act of repair or invention.
    I'll have a tinker and see what I can do.
  6. (military, obsolete) A hand mortar.
  7. Any of various fish: chub mackerel, silverside, skate, or young mackerel about two years old.
  8. A bird, the razor-billed auk.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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tinker (third-person singular simple present tinkers, present participle tinkering, simple past and past participle tinkered)

  1. (intransitive) To work as a tinker.
  2. (ambitransitive) To fiddle with something in an attempt to fix, mend or improve it, especially in an experimental or unskilled manner.
    • 1894, Thomas Hardy, A Few Crusted Characters:
      the broken bureau-lock and tinkered window-pane
    • 2012 January, Robert M. Pringle, “How to Be Manipulative”, in American Scientist‎[1], volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 3 October 2013, page 31:
      As in much of biology, the most satisfying truths in ecology derive from manipulative experimentation. Tinker with nature and quantify how it responds.
    • 2013, Eric Goulard, Body Language Secrets Revealed:
      And because he wants to show that he is a dominant male, he tinkered the engine of his motorbike to make it even noisier.
    • 2020 May 20, “Network News: LNER seeks innovation through FutureLabs project”, in Rail, page 14:
      We're not just talking about changes that tinker around the edges - we're looking to take advantage of some of the world's latest digital and tech developments to improve our service.

Synonyms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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