tinker
a mender of pots, kettles, pans, etc., usually an itinerant.
an unskillful or clumsy worker; bungler.
a person skilled in various minor kinds of mechanical work; jack-of-all-trades.
an act or instance of tinkering: Let me have a tinker at that motor.
Scot., Irish English.
to busy oneself with a thing without useful results: Stop tinkering with that clock and take it to the repair shop.
to work unskillfully or clumsily at anything.
to do the work of a tinker.
to mend as a tinker.
to repair in an unskillful, clumsy, or makeshift way.
Origin of tinker
1Other words from tinker
- tin·ker·er, noun
- un·tin·kered, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use tinker in a sentence
Ford began tinkering in his garage in Detroit in the 1890s, trains and the horse and buggy was the dominant mode of transport.
Once a lease is signed, the most people can generally accomplish is “technical tinkering rather than radical reform,” she says.
Our Taste for Cheap Palm Oil Is Killing Chimpanzees | Carrie Arnold | July 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd it especially strengthens those who look to meet massive challenges with little more than small-scale policy tinkering.
There is no improvising, no tinkering with the script and very little room for actors to suggest improvements.
The Cast of ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ Says Wes Anderson Is a Genius Hardass | Nico Hines | February 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt refers to what Americans call eau-de-vie, though Austrians have been tinkering with and perfecting the drink for centuries.
What to Drink When it’s Cold? The Glory of Austrian Schnaps | Jordan Salcito | January 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
In the dawnlight he saw Welborn and Landy tinkering with the old model that had brought them so valiantly through the mountains.
David Lannarck, Midget | George S. HarneyBernice saw that Warren's eyes had left a ukulele he had been tinkering with and were fixed on her questioningly.
Flappers and Philosophers | F. Scott FitzgeraldI wish to Heaven you would get him to leave off tinkering those commercial treaties that he is always making such a fuss about.
Endymion | Benjamin DisraeliBut all this tinkering has left very sorry scars, and even the tower outside has not been spared.
The Story of Perugia | Margaret SymondsA house is never really finished until one loses interest in it and stops tinkering and planning homely improvements.
Shelters, Shacks and Shanties | D.C. Beard
British Dictionary definitions for tinker
/ (ˈtɪŋkə) /
(esp formerly) a travelling mender of pots and pans
a clumsy worker
the act of tinkering
Scot and Irish another name for Gypsy
British informal a mischievous child
any of several small mackerels that occur off the North American coast of the Atlantic
(intr foll by with) to play, fiddle, or meddle (with machinery, etc), esp while undertaking repairs
to mend (pots and pans) as a tinker
Origin of tinker
1Derived forms of tinker
- tinkerer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with tinker
In addition to the idiom beginning with tinker
- tinker with
also see:
- not worth a damn (tinker's damn)
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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