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

Example Sentences

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

"Meaning you're a little tin god?" she chaffed.

From The Gray Dawn by White, Stewart Edward

"Oh!" said the newly-made captain, "I'm not one of your old-fashioned sort that thinks an owner a little tin god."

From A Master of Fortune Being Further Adventures of Captain Kettle by Wood, Stanley L.

He’s a little tin god on wheels, Margaret, that can do no wrong.

From The Turn of the Tide The Story of How Margaret Solved Her Problem by Porter, Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman)

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 Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)