tinker
See also: Tinker
Contents
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English tinkere, perhaps from Old English *tincere, from tin (“tin”) + Old English *cere (as in bēocere (“beekeeper”)), from Proto-Germanic *kazjaz (“vessel-maker”), from Proto-Germanic *kazą (“vessel; vat; tub”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
tinker (plural tinkers)
- An itinerant tinsmith and mender of household utensils made of metal.
- (dated, chiefly Britain and Ireland, offensive) A member of the Irish Traveller community. A gypsy.
- (usually with "little") A mischievous person, especially a playful, impish youngster.
- Someone who repairs, or attempts repair, on anything mechanical, or who invents such devices; one who tinkers; a tinkerer.
- The act of repair or invention. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (military, obsolete) A hand mortar.
- Any of various fish: the chub mackerel, the silverside, the skate, or a young mackerel about two years old.
- A bird, the razor-billed auk.
SynonymsEdit
- (mischievous person): rapscallion, rascal, rogue, scamp, scoundrel
- (member of the travelling community): traveller
TranslationsEdit
itinerant tinsmith
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member of the travelling community
mischievous person
VerbEdit
tinker (third-person singular simple present tinkers, present participle tinkering, simple past and past participle tinkered)
- (intransitive) To fiddle with something in an attempt to fix, mend or improve it, especially in an experimental or unskilled manner.
- 2012 January 1, Robert M. Pringle, “How to Be Manipulative”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 1, 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.
- (intransitive) To work as a tinker.
TranslationsEdit
to fiddle with something in an attempt to fix, mend or improve it
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See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- tinker in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.