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.

Nearby words

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
[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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
The tinker then pours a goatskin full of his infusion over the monster's head, who falls into a deep sleep.
The Folk-Tales of the Magyars|Various
Suppose a plumber is called into your house on a raw day of January to tinker up a disordered pipe in the cellar.
Christianity and Problems of To-day: Lectures Delivered Before Lake Forest College on the Foundation of the Late William Bross|John Huston Finley
As much as Tom the Tinker loved his money, he was not willing to fight for it; he therefore gave the man the full amount.
The Cave by the Beech Fork|Henry S. Spalding
Tom Hyde, the tinker, standing on the gallows, was asked if he had anything to say.
Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience|Henry David Thoreau
The Tinker rose and made a fire with leaves and furze and sticks, some dry and some green.
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851|Various

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

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)

tinker

noun

verb (used without object)

verb (used with object)

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Nearby words

Origin of tinker

Examples from the Web for tinker

tinker

noun

verb

Word Origin for tinker

tinker

tinker