tinker

[ ting-ker ]

/ ˈtɪŋ kər /

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See synonyms for: tinker / tinkered / tinkering / tinkerer 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 Romani living in the British Isles; a Traveler.
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.

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Origin of tinker

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

OTHER WORDS FROM tinker

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tinker in a sentence

The fundamental difference between the two is that Keynes is something of a tinkerer.
War of the Economists|Michael Maiello|October 29, 2011|DAILY BEAST
It was standard for the tinkerer, for the would-be designer of robot bodies.
Tangle Hold|F. L. Wallace
He was a natural mechanic, a maker and tinkerer of machines; he lisped in blueprints for the blueprints came.
Babbitt|Sinclair Lewis
He was something of a tinkerer, and he enjoyed adapting his environment to himself.
Beside Still Waters|Robert Sheckley

Had she recognized him as the smudged tinkerer of the stalled car?
The Valiants of Virginia|Hallie Erminie Rives

British Dictionary definitions for tinker

tinker

/ (ˈtɪŋkə) /

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 forms of tinker

tinkerer, 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

Other 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

Origin of tinker

OTHER WORDS FROM tinker

Words related to tinker

How to use tinker in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tinker

Derived forms of tinker

Word Origin for tinker

Other Idioms and Phrases with tinker