tinhorn
someone, especially a gambler, who pretends to be important but actually has little money, influence, or skill.
cheap and insignificant; small-time: a tinhorn racket.
Origin of tinhorn
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use tinhorn in a sentence
And there was music in all the saloons and restaurants; it rose and fell with the noise of the tin horn and the hoot of the happy.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonHe rapped on the ground with his staff and a small page appeared, wearing a pointed cap and carrying a tin horn.
The Story of the Big Front Door | Mary Finley LeonardThey set the table for dinner, and at noon Barbara blew the big tin horn to call her father and brother.
Historic Adventures | Rupert S. HollandSlander iz played on a tin horn, while truth steals forth like the dieing song ov a lute.
Josh Billings, Hiz Sayings | Henry Wheeler ShawThe faint tinkle of bells and the swelling toots of a tin horn were announcing the approach of Santa Claus.
The Biography of a Prairie Girl | Eleanor Gates
British Dictionary definitions for tinhorn
/ (ˈtɪnˌhɔːn) US slang /
a cheap pretentious person, esp a gambler with extravagant claims
cheap and showy
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
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