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Repair vs Tinker - What's the difference?

repair | tinker |

As nouns the difference between repair and tinker

is that repair is the act of repairing something while tinker is an itinerant tinsmith and mender of household utensils made of tin.

As verbs the difference between repair and tinker

is that repair is to restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy while tinker is to fiddle with something in an attempt to fix, mend or improve it, especially in an experimental or unskilled manner.

As a proper noun Tinker is

{{surname|northern English|from=occupations}} for someone who mends pots and pans.

repair

English

Etymology 1

Coined between 1300 and 1350 from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of repairing something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
  • The result of repairing something.
  • The condition of something, in respect of need for repair.
  • Derived terms
    * disrepair

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy.
  • to repair a house, a road, a shoe, or a ship
    to repair a shattered fortune
  • * Milton
  • secret refreshings that repair his strength
  • * Wordsworth
  • Do thou, as thou art wont, repair / My heart with gladness.
  • To make amends for, as for an injury, by an equivalent; to indemnify for.
  • to repair a loss or damage
  • * Shakespeare
  • I'll repair the misery thou dost bear.
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * repairable / reparable, repairer

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) . Cognate to repatriate.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of repairing or resorting to a place.
  • our annual repair to the mountains
  • * Clarendon
  • The king sent a proclamation for their repair to their houses.
  • A place to which one goes frequently or habitually; a haunt.
  • * Dryden
  • There the fierce winds his tender force assail / And beat him downward to his first repair .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To transfer oneself to another place.
  • :
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:Go, mount the winds, and to the shades repair .
  • *1850 , , (Jane Eyre)
  • *:I heard the visitors repair to their chambers.
  • *
  • *:That finished, I repaired to my room, one flight up, and, after a thorough wash, seated myself, pipe in mouth, at the little window that opened on the Rue Garde. I had nothing more exciting on hand than to wait for word from Von Lindowe. I sincerely hoped that it would not be long, for it is not my forte to sit twiddling my thumbs.
  • Derived terms
    * repatriate

    Etymology 3

    From .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to pair again
  • tinker

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • an itinerant tinsmith and mender of household utensils made of tin
  • (dated, chiefly, British, and, Irish, offensive) A member of the travelling community. A gypsy.
  • A mischievous person, especially a playful, impish youngster.
  • Someone who repairs, or attempts repair on anything mechanical (tinkers) or invents.
  • The act of repair or invention.
  • (military, obsolete) A small mortar on the end of a staff.
  • Any of various fish: the chub mackerel, the silverside, the skate, or a young mackerel about two years old.
  • A bird, the razor-billed auk.
  • (Webster 1913)

    Synonyms

    * (mischievous person) rapscallion, rascal, rogue, scamp, scoundrel * (member of the travelling community) traveller

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fiddle with something in an attempt to fix, mend or improve it, especially in an experimental or unskilled manner.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
  • , author=Robert M. Pringle , title=How to Be Manipulative , volume=100, issue=1, page=31 , magazine= citation , passage=As in much of biology, the most satisfying truths in ecology derive from manipulative experimentation. Tinker with nature and quantify how it responds.}}
  • To work as a tinker.
  • See also

    * * tinker's damn

    Anagrams

    *