tinker

American  

[ting-ker] / ˈtɪŋ kər /

noun

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

2. an unskillful or clumsy worker; bungler.

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

4. an act or instance of tinkering.

   Let me have a tinker at that motor.

5. Scot., Irish English.

   1. a Romani living in the British Isles; a Traveler.

   2. any itinerant worker.

   3. a wanderer.

   4. a beggar.

6. chub mackerel.

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verb (used without object)

1. to busy oneself with a thing without useful results.

   Stop tinkering with that clock and take it to the repair shop.

2. to work unskillfully or clumsily at anything.

3. to do the work of a tinker.

verb (used with object)

1. to mend as a tinker.

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

tinker British  

/ ˈtɪŋkə /

noun

1. (esp formerly) a travelling mender of pots and pans

2. a clumsy worker

3. the act of tinkering

4. another name for Gypsy

5. informal a mischievous child

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

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verb

1. to play, fiddle, or meddle (with machinery, etc), esp while undertaking repairs

2. to mend (pots and pans) as a tinker

tinker Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing tinker

• not worth a damn (tinker's damn)

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Other Word Forms

• tinkerer noun
• untinkered adjective

Etymology

Origin of tinker

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

Example Sentences

And so, in March 1984, tinkering with the personal computer she had bought her children for Christmas, Cobb launched what she called “a support group through the mail.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The Badgers made seven of 11 three-pointers on the way to building a 20-point lead midway through the first half as Cronin continually tinkered with his lineup, trying to find a winning combination.

From Los Angeles Times

Amorim tinkered his system once more to try and turn the tide, but his substitution of Casemiro left the Brazilian befuddled.

From Barron's

It is obliged, instead, to adopt what François Jacob, a French biologist, referred to in 1977 as a strategy of “tinkering.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Waiting could pay off for people who want more in their paychecks instead of big refunds — but who don’t want to tinker with their withholdings.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• dabble
• mess