Chemistry. a low-melting, malleable, ductile metallic element nearly approaching silver in color and luster: used in plating and in making alloys, tinfoil, and soft solders. Sn; 118.69; 50; 7.31 at 20°C.
any shallow pan, especially one used in baking.
any pot, box, can, or other container or vessel made of tin or tin plate.
Squash. telltale.
Chiefly British. a hermetically sealed can containing food.
Slang. a small quantity of an illicit drug, especially from two to five grams of cocaine: usually sold in a small plastic bag, a glassine envelope, or often a small tin container.
British Slang. money.
made or consisting of tin or tin plate.
false; worthless; counterfeit.
a set of tin values.
indicating the tenth event of a series, as a wedding anniversary.
Metallurgy.
to cover or coat with tin.
to coat with soft solder.
Chiefly British. to preserve or pack (especially food) in cans; can.
to cover (windows and doors in an abandoned or unoccupied building or apartment) with sheets of tin to prevent vandalism or occupancy by vagrants, squatters, etc.
a metallic element, occurring in cassiterite, that has several allotropes; the ordinary malleable silvery-white metal slowly changes below 13.2°C to a grey powder. It is used extensively in alloys, esp bronze and pewter, and as a noncorroding coating for steel. Symbol: Sn; atomic no: 50; atomic wt: 118.710; valency: 2 or 4; relative density: 5.75 (grey), 7.31 (white); melting pt: 231.9°C; boiling pt: 2603°C
Also called (esp US and Canadian): can. an airtight sealed container of thin sheet metal coated with tin, used for preserving and storing food or drink
any container made of metallic tin
to complete a home baking of cakes, biscuits, etc
Also called: tinful. the contents of a tin or the amount a tin will hold
corrugated or galvanized iron
a tin roof
any metal regarded as cheap or flimsy
a loaf of bread with a rectangular shape, baked in a tin
slang money
it lives up to expectations
to put (food, etc) into a tin or tins; preserve in a tin
to plate or coat with tin
to prepare (a metal) for soldering or brazing by applying a thin layer of solder to the surface
A malleable, silvery metallic element that occurs in igneous rocks. It has a crystalline structure and crackles when bent. Tin is used as an anticorrosion agent and is a part of numerous alloys, including bronze. Atomic number 50; atomic weight 118.71; melting point 231.89°C; boiling point 2,270°C; specific gravity 7.31; valence 2, 4.
See Periodic Table See Note at element
before 900; (noun) Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch, Old Norse tin, German Zinn; (v.) Middle English tinnen, derivative of the noun
Tin is a kind of metal that is soft and silver-colored. The most common use of tin today is in solder, the hot, liquid metal that holds pipes and other metal pieces together. You may think of common items like tin foil and tin cans when you contemplate the uses of tin. Actually, so-called tin cans and tins are made of steel or other metals that are coated in tin. Before the middle of the 20th century, the foil used for covering food was made of thin sheets of tin. It was stiffer than today's foil (which is made of aluminum), and left food with a metallic, "tinny" taste.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Cut the pastry into roughly nine 3-inch squares and tuck each one into a prepared muffin tin, leaving the corners to rise jauntily above the cups.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Researchers from the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology collected pollen using pollen traps and measured levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, and tin in both pollen and adult bees.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
The only thing he requests is a tin of 112 players with adhesive backings.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Normanly explained that the eggs "were collected very carefully, wrapped up individually and packaged into a biscuit tin" to be transported to the incubation facility.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
I listened to the rain ping the tin roof.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Your beneficiary will also need an SSN or TIN.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2022
When the number is being used as identification, it is typically referred to as a TIN, and when it is being used for employment tax reporting, it’s usually referred to as an EIN.
From Encyclopedia.com ● Jun. 6, 2018
It’s highly likely that the company you work for will be able to give you the TIN.
From Encyclopedia.com ● Jun. 6, 2018
TIN SWE Rangoon, Burma Sir: Although I am not a Buddhist, I interpreted your article on the subject as an unregenerate evaluation of the antinomies of a great religion.
From Time Magazine Archive
THE TIN BOX Dick Gordon lay on a bed in a sunny south room at the Corbett place.
From A Daughter of the Dons A Story of New Mexico Today by Raine, William MacLeod
As well as offering the few tins it had secured as a prize for its readers, it reported that thanks to “quiet diplomacy” between the magazine and AB Foods, negotiations are advancing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
An impending heatwave has threatened to stow away — or rather, further preserve — countless tins of anchovies.
From Salon ● May 28, 2026
Across the city in a suburb of Beirut, kitchen shelves were stacked with sauces and tins crowded the walls as volunteers prepared green beans and fried rice balls.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
Bright teardrop earrings hang from metal tins filled with Japanese cooling beads.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
She bought oil lamps made from milk tins.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Even tinned fish — one of my favorite budget-friendly pantry luxuries — delivers that distinctive briny quality without requiring a trip to a specialty seafood counter.
From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2026
Customers are allowed to pick a certain number of items from each section of the grocery, which includes fresh fruit and veg, tinned and baked goods, and frozen foods.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
Adding anchovies, or any kind of tinned seafood, to pasta is steeped in tradition, dating back to 19th-century Italian cooking.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
The shop, based in premises leased from the Royal British Legion, sells fresh and tinned food, alongside household goods at low prices, with no judgement.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
I poured myself a mug of coffee and Mr. Whiskers a saucer of tinned milk.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
After the war in 1922, he bought the business of J. Lesher & Son and dealt in plumbing, heating, roof tinning, spouting and stoves.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 17, 2018
Through its encouragement of the tinning industry, it helped make tinned meat a part of the British diet; through its public lectures, it introduced the nation to such modern wonders as the Edison phonograph.
From Time Magazine Archive
All during summer and autumn Drought dropped into the can-makers' laps orders for hundreds of millions of cans for the meat which the Government was tinning for the unemployed.
From Time Magazine Archive
He estimated his process would be a third cheaper than tinning.
From Time Magazine Archive
The starboard wing was heavily engaged, however, and the center had shattered under the stones of those trebuchets, some captains tinning downstream, others veering to port, anything to escape that crushing rain.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
