Dictionary.com
definitions

tinker

[ting-ker]
See more synonyms for tinker on Thesaurus.com
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 gypsy.
    2. any itinerant worker.
    3. a wanderer.
    4. a beggar.
  6. chub mackerel.
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.

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. 2018

Related Words for tinkerer

dilettante, beginner, novice, abecedarian, loafer, pretender, tyro, trifler, tinkerer, nonprofessional, smatterer

Examples from the Web for tinkerer

Contemporary Examples of tinkerer

  • The fundamental difference between the two is that Keynes is something of a tinkerer.

    The Daily Beast logo
    War of the Economists

    Michael Maiello

    October 29, 2011

Historical Examples of tinkerer

  • He was something of a tinkerer, and he enjoyed adapting his environment to himself.

    Beside Still Waters

    Robert Sheckley

  • 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

British Dictionary definitions for tinkerer

tinker

noun
  1. (esp formerly) a travelling mender of pots and pans
  2. a clumsy worker
  3. the act of tinkering
  4. Scot and Irish another name for Gypsy
  5. British informal a mischievous child
  6. any of several small mackerels that occur off the North American coast of the Atlantic
verb
  1. (intr foll by with) to play, fiddle, or meddle (with machinery, etc), esp while undertaking repairs
  2. 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 tinkerer

tinker

n.

"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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with tinkerer

tinker

In addition to the idiom beginning with tinker

  • tinker with

also see:

  • not worth a damn (tinker's damn)
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.