Tinker vs Sinker - What's the difference?
tinker | sinker |
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)
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=
To work as a tinker.
(fishing) A weight used in fishing to cause the line or net to sink
(baseball) Any of several high speed pitches that have a downward motion near the plate; a two-seam fastball, a split-finger fastball, or a forkball
(construction) Sinker nail, used for framing in current construction.
(slang) A doughnut; a biscuit.
* 1926 , Edna Ferber, Show Boat: A Novel , page 268
* 2001 , Gerald J. Prokopowicz, All for the Regiment: The Army of the Ohio, 1861-1862 , page 148
* 2003 , William W. Johnstone, Ambush Of The Mountain Man , page 168
In knitting machines, one of the thin plates, blades, or other devices, that depress the loops upon or between the needles.
As nouns the difference between tinker and sinker
is that tinker is an itinerant tinsmith and mender of household utensils made of tin while sinker is a weight used in fishing to cause the line or net to sink.As a verb 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.tinker
English
Noun
(en noun)Synonyms
* (mischievous person) rapscallion, rascal, rogue, scamp, scoundrel * (member of the travelling community) travellerVerb
(en verb)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.}}
See also
* * tinker's damnAnagrams
*sinker
English
Noun
(en noun)- Hook the sinker onto this loop.
- His sinkers drew one ground ball after another.
- Of the fifty cents, ten went for the glassy shoeshine; twenty-five for a boutonniere; ten for coffee and sinkers at the Cockeyed Bakery.
- they improvised by opening a barrel of flour and letting each man dump in a quart of water (if he had one) and scoop out a handful of dough to bake into rock-hard sinkers .
- "Gonna have to dip them sinkers in coffee to get 'em soft enough to chew," Jason Biggs said, grinning.