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

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

A little tin god has a pleasant time of it, no doubt, until the coming of the eighteen carat gold idol.

From The Rise of Roscoe Paine by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

Being conscripted into this idiotic space fleet that never fights is bad enough without a tin god on jets like Slichow!

From The Talkative Tree by Horace Brown Fyfe

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

And as she thinks him a tin god on wheels, she ceased to argue.

From Set in Silver by A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson