tin god

American  

[tin god] / ˈtɪn ˈgɒd /

noun

1. a self-important, dictatorial person in a position of authority, such as an employer, military officer, critic, or teacher.

2. a person who believes they are infallible and tries to impose judgments, beliefs, standards of behavior, etc., on subordinates.

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tin god British  

noun

1. a self-important dictatorial person

2. a person erroneously regarded as holy or venerable

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tin god Idioms  

1. A self-important, dictatorial, petty person who imposes ideas, beliefs, and standards on subordinates. For example, The officials in these small towns often act like tin gods. The tin in this expression alludes to the fact that tin is a base metal with relatively little value. [Late 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of tin god

First recorded in 1885–90

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tin god

Its plausible air lasts until the final scenes; then the hero goes out of character and the picture goes off on a little sentimental jag to treat him like a tin god.

From Time Magazine Archive

He is all the time lashing himself into a fury over imagined wrongs and wanting to play the little tin god on Olympus with his threatened strikes.

From Nobody's Man by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

You say there was a light in the tent—I suppose Anson was there tinkering with his little tin god of a timepiece.

From The City of Numbered Days by Francis Lynde

A week or two more and the "little tin god" would go down off his wheels.

From A Soldier of the Legion by C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson

"Oh, your little tin god on wheels is not the only one," replied Helena, the astute.

From The Californians by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

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