tinker

[ting-ker]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tinker ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a mender of pots, kettles, pans, etc., usually an itinerant.

an unskillful or clumsy worker; bungler.

a person skilled in various minor kinds of mechanical work; jack-of-all-trades.

an act or instance of tinkering: Let me have a tinker at that motor.

Scot., Irish English.

a gypsy.
any itinerant worker.
a wanderer.
a beggar.

chub mackerel.

verb (used without object)

to busy oneself with a thing without useful results: Stop tinkering with that clock and take it to the repair shop.

to work unskillfully or clumsily at anything.

to do the work of a tinker.

verb (used with object)

to mend as a tinker.

to repair in an unskillful, clumsy, or makeshift way.

Origin of tinker

1225–75; Middle English tinkere (noun), syncopated variant of tinekere worker in tin

Related formstin·ker·er, nounun·tin·kered, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tinker

mess, dabble, repair, play, toy, monkey, doodle, putter, niggle, puddle, fix

Examples from the Web for tinker

Contemporary Examples of tinker

You could tinker with them so they would boil but then the cops could take it away for being an ‘altered item’.
Tales of a Jailhouse Gourmet: How I learned to Cook in Prison
Daniel Genis
June 21, 2014
He could spell the names of all his classmates, and he loved building with Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys.
The Crossword Puzzle Turns 100: The ‘King of Crossword’ on Its Strange History
Kevin Fallon
December 21, 2013
[Laughs] KROLL: The “Tinker Stinker” I like, in that it felt like a true labeling of something that happens.
‘The League’ Roundtable: The Cast Dishes on the Funniest Show You’re Not Watching
Marlow Stern
November 19, 2013
Oh, sure, if it would attract a few token Republican votes, they were willing to tinker with the price tag.
How Could the GOP Have Improved Obamacare?
Megan McArdle
May 10, 2013
Tinker with these positions, several sages are quoted as saying, and the GOP will be back in the game.
Deluded Republican Reformers
Michael Tomasky
February 23, 2013

Historical Examples of tinker

He can tinker up almost anything, and that eliminates the blacksmith.
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr
He did not go down to the Lake this day, lest he should come near the tinker.
What Sami Sings with the Birds
Johanna Spyri
So all turned their steps to the forest depths, where the Tinker was to live henceforth.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle
The Tinker said nothing at first but stood looking at Robin with a grim face.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle
"But nought have I to pay thee with, good fellow," quoth the Tinker.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle

British Dictionary definitions for tinker

tinker

noun

(esp formerly) a travelling mender of pots and pans

a clumsy worker

the act of tinkering

Scot and Irish another name for Gypsy

British informal a mischievous child

any of several small mackerels that occur off the North American coast of the Atlantic

verb

(intr foll by with) to play, fiddle, or meddle (with machinery, etc), esp while undertaking repairs

to mend (pots and pans) as a tinker

Derived Formstinkerer, noun

Word Origin for tinker

C13 tinkere, perhaps from tink tinkle, of imitative origin

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

Word Origin and History for tinker

"mender of kettles, pots, pans, etc.," mid-13c. (as a surname), of uncertain origin. Some connect the word with the sound made by light hammering on metal. The verb meaning "to keep busy in a useless way" is first found 1650s. Tinker's damn "something slight and worthless" is from 1824, probably simply preserving tinkers' reputation for free and casual use of profanity; more elaborate derivations exist, but seem to be just-so stories without evidence.

Idioms and Phrases with tinker

tinker

In addition to the idiom beginning with tinker

tinker with

also see:

not worth a damn (tinker's damn)