tinker

[ting-ker]

noun

1. a mender of pots, kettles, pans, etc., usually an itinerant.

2. an unskillful or clumsy worker; bungler.

3. a person skilled in various minor kinds of mechanical work; jack-of-all-trades.

4. an act or instance of tinkering.

   Let me have a tinker at that motor.

5. Scot., Irish English.

   1. a Romani living in the British Isles; a Traveler.

   2. any itinerant worker.

   3. a wanderer.

   4. a beggar.

6. chub mackerel.

verb (used without object)

1. to busy oneself with a thing without useful results.

   Stop tinkering with that clock and take it to the repair shop.

2. to work unskillfully or clumsily at anything.

3. to do the work of a tinker.

verb (used with object)

1. to mend as a tinker.

2. to repair in an unskillful, clumsy, or makeshift way.

tinker

/ ˈtɪŋkə /

noun

1. (esp formerly) a travelling mender of pots and pans

2. a clumsy worker

3. the act of tinkering

4. another name for Gypsy

5. informal,  a mischievous child

6. any of several small mackerels that occur off the North American coast of the Atlantic

verb

1. to play, fiddle, or meddle (with machinery, etc), esp while undertaking repairs

2. to mend (pots and pans) as a tinker

Other Word Forms

• tinkerer noun
• untinkered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tinker¹

First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English tinkere (noun), syncopated variant of tinekere “worker in tin”

Word History and Origins

Origin of tinker¹

C13 tinkere, perhaps from tink tinkle, of imitative origin

Idioms and Phrases

• not worth a damn (tinker's damn)

Example Sentences

It wasn’t until Riley left for East Carolina that he started to tinker more with the position.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Hansard relied on that sure-footedness in the studio where Irglová “cut to the chase” and reined in his tendency to tinker and noodle — a tactic his band The Frames indulged in when not on hiatus.

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The Conservatives said ministers were "tinkering around the edges" of the issue and were not serious about cutting the number of people arriving in the UK.

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She described the action plan as "more bluster from a government that is only tinkering around the edges".

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Even the faintest irritation, say a restaurant chain tinkering with its logo, can summon thousands to the same digital square.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• dabble 
• mess