| 释义 |
▪ I. tin, n.|tɪn|
Forms: 1–3 tin, 3–7 tyn, 4–6 tynne, 5 tyne, 5–7 tynn, (6 teene, Sc. twne, tun), 6–7 tinne, 7 tinn, 7– tin.
[OE. tin neut. = MLG., MDu. tin(n, tēn (LG., EFris., Du. tin), OHG., MHG. zin (G. zinn), ON. tin (Da. tin, Sw. tenn):—OTeut. *tin-om; not known outside Teutonic. Ir. tinne is from Eng.
The 16th c. Sc. forms twne, tun are difficult to account for.]
1. a. One of the well-known metals, nearly approaching silver in whiteness and lustre, highly malleable and taking a high polish; used in the manufacture of articles of block tin, in the formation of alloys, as bronze, pewter, etc., and, on account of its resistance to oxidation, for making tin-plate and lining culinary and other iron vessels.
Tin is rarely if ever found native, but occurs in two ores, the dioxide, SnO2, called tin-stone or cassiterite, and, less commonly, in tin-pyrites or sulphide of tin, SnS2. Chemically it is a dyad metallic element, symbol Sn (stannum), atomic weight (O = 16) 119 (Internat. Committee in Jrnl. Chem. Soc. Sept. 1912, 1832); sp. gr. about 7·3. In Alchemy represented by the same sign ({jup}) as the planet Jupiter.
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxvii. 266 Ðis Israhela folc is ᵹeworden nu me to sindrum & to are & to tine & to iserne & to leade inne on minum ofne. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Ðe caliz [in church is] of tin and hire [the priest's concubine's] nap of mazere and ring of golde. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 144 Metal, as led and tyn. 1382Wyclif Num. xxxi. 22 Brasse, and yren, and tynne. a1450Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 613/20 Stannum, tyn. Ibid. 653/14 Hoc stagnum, tyne. 1544T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) C iv, Kepe them in a boxe of tinne. 1548Aberdeen Regr. (1844) I. 259, vij platis of twne,..item, iij quartis of twne. 1561Ibid. 336 Ane charger of tun, ane plait of tun, ane dische of tun. 1559Will R. Hoope (Somerset Ho.), Beades of Teene. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 184 Rich and plenteous mines of tinne. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 195 The colour of Tin is greyish white... Fracture hackly, crackles..when bent. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 388 Equal parts of tin and bismuth form a brittle alloy. 1863Lyell Antiq. Man ii. 10 Bronze is an alloy of about nine parts of copper and one of tin.
b. With defining attribute, as
bar-tin = block tin; black tin, tin ore (the dioxide, SnO2) prepared for smelting; block tin, tin of second quality cast into blocks; solid tin as distinct from tin plate; a receptacle made from this; grain tin, a very pure tin obtained by fusing stream tin in a blast furnace supplied with charcoal, and breaking it into small pieces; phosphor tin, an artificial compound of tin and phosphorus; stream tin, tin ore washed from the sand or gravel in which it occurs; white tin, refined metallic tin.
1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 361 Stream ores produce the grain tin,..and the others the *bar or block tin. 1873Watts Fownes' Chem. 443 Two varieties of commercial tin are known, called grain- and bar-tin.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 185 *Black tin..is tinne ore broken and washed. 1865E. Burritt Walk Land's End 320 The mine produces about 430 tons of black tin annually.
1668Charleton Onomast. 295 Mundick, and *Block Tin. 1688Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 455 There is a new patent passing empow'ring commissioners for the making of new tinn farthings of block tinn. 1836Dickens in Bell's Life in London 17 Jan. 1/1 The little block-tin temple sacred to ‘baked 'taturs’. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIV. 472/2 After refining, the tin is cast into blocks of about three cwt. each... Tin thus prepared is sold as block tin. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. (1853) xxvi. 259 He could play 'em a tune on any sort of pot you please, so as it was iron or block tin. 1879M. E. Braddon Vixen I. xiii. 255 The silver kettle..was conducting itself as spitfireishly as any blackened block-tin on a kitchen hob. 1910G. B. Shaw Let. 21 Mar. (1972) II. 915 You inherited from your father a sense of the importance of block-tin piping.
1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 201 *Grain Tin approaches to the silvery white. Common block Tin is bluer. 1877Knight Dict. Mech. 2575/1 Grain-tin is prepared by plunging blocks of tin into a bath of molten tin, and when they have assumed a brittle crystaling texture, they are broken with a hammer; or, after being heated nearly to the fusing-point, they are allowed to fall from a considerable hight; they are thus broken up into elongated grains.
1884Ibid. Suppl., *Phosphor Tin... Useful in making phosphor bronze.
1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 201 In Cornwall the best Tin Ores are those that are washed down the hills by torrents, and thence called *Stream Tin Ores. 1842Brande Dict. Sc., etc., s.v. Tin, Stream tin,..from it the purest metal is obtained.
1674Ray Words, Prepar. Tin 124 Two pound of black tin..yields a pound of *White or more. 1706Lond. Gaz. No. 4241/2 A new Invention of Smelting..of Black Tin-Ore into White Tin.
2. a. A vessel made of tin, or more usually of tinned iron; spec. a vessel in which meat, fish, fruit, etc., is hermetically sealed for preservation (= can n.1 3); locally, a small cylindrical drinking vessel or mug with a handle.
1795S. Martin New Experienced Eng.-Housekeeper v. 73 Butter the tins, and bake them in a pretty quick oven. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 73 With shining tin to keep his dinner warm Swung at his back. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 354 The sellers of tins, who carry them under their arms, or in any way on a round,..are known as hand sellers. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxx. (1856) 258 Now we had to quarry out the blocks [of ice]..and then melt it in tins for our daily drink. 1861Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 100 Many cooks use the tinned turtle..preserved in hermetically-sealed canisters... The cost of a tin..is about {pstlg}2. 1898British Printer XI. 218 A couple of opened ink tins. 1900H. G. Graham Soc. Life Scot. in 18th C. iv. ii. (1901) 135 They partook of a tin of ale. 1901Westm. Gaz. 29 Nov. 8/2 An action..that concerns 200,000 tins of strawberry jam for the troops in South Africa. The manufacturers are proceeding against the tin-makers, as the tins leaked. Mod. To open a tin of sardines. (Scotl.) Each child brought a tin and received her tinful of milk.
b. Tin-plate as the material of such vessels.
1879Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 85 A tin writing case is much more useful..for in tin nothing will mildew as it is liable to do in leather. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. 283 Meat of their own herds, untainted by American tin.
c. Cricket colloq. the tins, rectangular metal pieces each with a single white number painted on a black ground, set on the score-board or ‘telegraph’ to show the score, etc., during a match. Phr. on the tins, on the score-board.
1903D. L. A. Jephson in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket iv. 97 Poor old Surrey in the soup again!.. The mouldy eight runs on the tins were only hoisted there by a mighty effort. 1944E. Blunden Cricket Country i. 19 The call from the pavilion..sent the tins hustling up on the score⁓board.
d. Squash Rackets. A strip of metal or other material fitted along the bottom of the front wall of the court, which resounds when struck by the ball, showing it to have dropped out of play. With the.
[1926C. Arnold Game of Squash Rackets i. 1 On the front wall is fixed the playboard or tell tale. This consists of a piece of boarding backed with tin extending to a height of 19 inches from the ground. A ball striking this surface would not count, hence the name and the tin backing which sends forth a metallic clang when struck.] 1933Times 18 Nov. 5/7 Time after time he got his opponent out of position and then, in too great a hurry to finish off the rally, put the ball on to the tin. 1960Times 29 Nov. 17/4 Gordon..cast away his chances into the tin. 1973M. Russell Double Hit xxv. 187 The boy aimed a stroke which missed. The fourth he returned into the tin.
3. slang.
a. Money, cash. Cf. brass n. 3 b.
Said to have been first applied to the small silver coins of the 18th c., which before their recall in 1817 were often worn quite smooth without trace of any device, so as to resemble pieces of tin. See quot. for tin-like in 4 c.
1836Smith Individual, Thieves' Chaunt 5 (Farmer) Because she lately nimm'd some tin, They have sent her to lodge at the King's Head Inn. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop ii, How much better would it be..to hand over a reasonable amount of tin. 1854Marion Harland Alone xxiv, She married a rich old man for his ‘tin’.
b. the Tins: a nickname of the Household Cavalry (from their cuirasses).
1918G. Frankau Poet. Works (1923) 181 Why ride the Tins in full review-array? 'Tis Hazeline Tredither's wedding-day! 1947Times 16 Sept. 5/4 The Household Cavalry are the ‘Tins’, in allusion to their cuirasses; the shrapnel helmet of our day is a ‘tinhat’. 1982Barr & York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 90/1 Household Cavalry (the Tins: the Life Guards, and the Blues & Royals).
c. The badge or shield of a policeman. U.S.
1949Partridge Dict. Underworld 725/2 Tin,..as ‘a sheriff's badge’, it is American s[lang]. 1956‘E. McBain’ Cop Hater (1958) xiii. 109 They reached for the leather cases to which their shields were pinned... They pinned the tin to their collars. 1975‘S. Marlowe’ Cawthorn Jrnls. (1976) ii. xix. 170 Mason Reed flashed the tin. ‘Police officer. March right out of here.’
4. attrib. and Comb.
a. attrib. or as adj. Made or consisting of tin (or of tin-plate), as tin bar, tin basin, tin box, tin bucket, tin button, tin farthing, tin filings, tin flagon, tin metal, tin-nail, tin roof, tin saucepan, tin-solder, tin spoon, tin thread, tin trunk, tin-ware, tin whistle; of, pertaining or relating to, producing, or concerned with tin, as tin-amalgam, tin-dip, tin-farm, tin-float (float n. 19), tin-furnace, tin-grain, tin-kiln, tin-law, tin-lode, tin-merchant, tin-mine, tin ore, tin-pit, tin-shop, tin trade, tin vein; put up or preserved in tins, tinned, as tin junk, tin milk.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 593 The glass..with its interior coating of *tin-amalgam.
1487Cely Papers (Camden) 157 A *tyn basson wt oder geyr.
1723J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. i i 8, You may boil it [sc. spinach] in a *Tin-box, which shuts so close, that no Liquor can get in. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Tin-box, Tin-case, a strong iron box tinned and japanned, for holding papers, dress articles, etc.
1642in J. Lister Autobiog. (1842) 78 Michael Woodhead was shot upon his *tin-buttons.
1775Ash, *Tin-canister, a canister made of tin.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1253 (Tin-plate) The final *tin-dip is useful to remove the marks of the brush.
1758Borlase Cornwall 190 The *tin-farm of Cornwall at this time amounted to..one hundred marks per annum. 1688*Tinn farthings [see block tin in sense 1 b].
1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 288 The anthelmintic virtues of *tin-filings.
1589Exch. Rolls Scotl. XXII. 73 Aucht *tin flauconis contenand ane point the pece.
1681Grew Musæum iii. ii. ii. 328 A Slag, remaining in the bottom of the *Tin-Floate.
1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iv. (1723) 213 *Tin-Grains, and other Ores of Metalls.
1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, *Tin-kiln, is used for the Burning of the Mundick from the Tin-ore.
1611Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xi. (1614) 21/1 This Earle made certain *tinne-laws which with liberties and priviledges were confirmed by Earle Edmund his sonne.
1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. x. 301 Wheal Friendship lode differs but a few degrees from east and west, as is also the case with Wheal Jewel *tin-lode on the north of it.
1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4461/4 Richard Balhatchett,..Tinner, or *Tinn-Merchant.
1882Three in Norway v. 35 When we have only *tin milk.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. 185 The incursions of the Mores had stopped up the *tinne mines of Spaine. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 1241 The tin-mines of the Malay peninsula.
1381–2Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 389 In CCC *Tinnail et vernys empt. pro ostio parliamenti in claustro. 1610*Tinne ore [see black tin in 1 b].
1766Wesley Jrnl. 12 Sept., My horse was just stepping into a *tin-pit.
1912E. Lutyens Let. May in M. Lutyens Edwin Lutyens (1980) vii. 105 It is..very English!—to have a capital as Simla is entirely of *tin roofs. 1982M. Duke Flashpoint x. 69 Untidy shanties with tin roofs.
1834Tait's Mag. I. 181/2, I have known a blacksmith..unaware of the fact that what are called ‘*tin saucepans’ are made of tinned plate iron.
1851H. Mayhew London Labour I. 336/1 The street-sellers of that order are supplied at the ‘*tin-shops’. 1979United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 546 The bakery, tin shop and garden house look..as if they were still open for business.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 189 Like as *tin-soder doth knit and rejoyne a crackt peece of brasse.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag., Penalties & Forfeit. 2 *Tin and Leaden Spoons.
1674tr. Scheffer's Lapland 105 Adorned with needle work of *tin-thred upon diverse colour'd cloth.
1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xv. 525 The chief emporium of the *tin trade was Bruges.
1922E. H. Young Bridge Dividing ii. i. 79 Henrietta went to her room to unpack the brown *tin trunk which contained all her possessions. 1981R. Grayson Death of Abbé Didier xiv. 125 He could see in the bedroom two large tin trunks.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. 185 The *tynne veines in Germanie..were not as yet knowen.
1812‘H. Bull-Us’ Diverting Hist. John Bull & Brother Jonathan xiii. 91 These people are also very ingenious in making *tin ware, brooms, cider-brandy, wooden bowls, and tallow candles. 1860Piesse Lab. Chem. Wonders 36 It is this substance which constitutes our famous tin-ware.
1825J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 90 As if he were sounding a charge with..a *tin-whistle.
b. fig. in reference to tin as a base metal, esp. in comparison with silver: Mean, petty, worthless, counterfeit. (Cf. copper n.1 9 c.) Freq. in phr. (little) tin god. Also tin Jesus (only in the work of G. B. Shaw).
1886Kipling Departm. Ditties (1899) 24 The Little Tin Gods harried their little tin souls. 1902Daily Chron. 10 July 3/3 Those funny little tin revolutions affected by the South American States. 1905H. A. Vachell Hill ix. 187, I hope he's not going to make a sort of tin parson of you. 1909Our German Cousins xv. 89 In Prussia alone there are 492 Landräte—a sort of district commissioner—all Government officials or directly in touch with the central government, and all little tin gods in their own district. 1917S. Lewis Job xiii. 193 If they'd work like sixty they might get to be little tin gods on wheels like himself? 1928R. Campbell Wayzgoose ii. 55 Of Tin Gods you may oft have heard or read But this one was entirely made of lead. 1930G. B. Shaw What I really wrote about War xii. 368 The victorious Chauvinists..derided him [sc. Woodrow Wilson] as ‘a tin Jesus’. 1951E. Coxhead One Green Bottle v. 115 We economists are going to be the little tin gods of this generation. 1978‘M. M. Kaye’ Far Pavilions vi. xxxvi. 534 With luck the ‘Tin Gods’ who had banished him to Gujerat..would leave him alone.
c. objective and obj. genitive, as tin-beater, tin-maker, tin-melter, tin-miner, tin-pedler, tin smelter, tin-stamper, etc.; tin-bearing, tin-dressing, -getting, tin-mining, -smelting, tin-stamping, etc., ns. and adjs.; instrumental, as tin-poisoning, tin-roofing; tin-lined, tin-mailed, tin-roofed adjs.; parasynthetic, as tin-bottomed, tin-coloured, tin-handled, tin-tabled adjs.; similative, as tin-white adj. and n.; also tin-like adj. and adv.
1899Daily News 30 Nov. 2/1 (Prospectus) Two immense deposits of *tin-bearing drift.
1848W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. II. 272 François Foucret, *tin-beater,..living in Vaise.
1872Calverley Fly-leaves (1903) 73 Hit a *tinbottom'd tray Hard with the fireshovel, hammer away!
c1515Cocke Lorelles B. 10 Balancers, *tynne casters, and skryueners.
1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. Magnificence 926 On his back he wears *Tin-colour'd Tissue.
1896Daily News 17 Nov. 3/5 He was given a *tin-handled knife.
1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. 6 Many persons..remember the villanous old coinage of George III. [properly Queen Anne to Geo. II, still current under Geo. III, but gradually withdrawn after 1817], the *tin-like sixpences, which added a word to the slang dictionary, and the button-like shillings, of which the image and superscription might have been Cæsar's.
1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 192 Heated by circulated air..ascending in *tin-lined flues. 1879Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 21 Articles..should be securely packed in tin boxes, or else in boxes tin-lined.
1887Ruskin Præterita II. 401 The delicately *tin-mailed and glittering spires of the village church.
1592Chettle Kinde-harts Dr. (1841) 26 The receipte which the *tinne-melters wife ministred.
1899R. Munro Prehist. Scot. i. 6 Diodorus Siculus makes mention of the *tin-miners.
1812J. K. Paulding Beauties Bro. Bull-Us 53 Feather-merchants, rag-men, *tin-pedlars, and horse-jockies. 1841Emerson Ess. Ser. i. iv. (1876) 112 He hears and feels what you say of the seraphim, and of the tin-pedler.
1904Westm. Gaz. 20 Sept. 3/2 These could not have saved him from *tin-poisoning or a touch of ophthalmia.
1882J. G. Whittier in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 145 Its *tin-roofed chapel stood Half hid in the dwarf spruce wood. c1886Kipling Railway Folk 59 Walk into a huge, brick-built, tin-roofed stable.
1885List of Subscribers, Classified (United Telephone Co.) (ed. 6) 211 *Tin Smelters... Redruth Tin Smelting Co. 1977Whitaker's Almanack 1978 757 Some of the country's more important industrial installations include..a tin smelter.
1885List of Subscribers, Classified (United Telephone Co.) (ed. 6) 151 Anglo-American *Tin Stamping Co., Limited.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1253 Paid for brushing and *tin-washing 225 plates.
1800Henry Epit. Chem. (1808) 252 The colour of this metal [tellurium] is *tin-white, verging to lead-grey. 1855J. R. Leifchild Cornwall Mines 39 Good specimens of tin-white cobalt.
d. Applied disparagingly to buildings (esp. Nonconformist churches) made partly of corrugated iron: tin chapel, tin tabernacle (cf. tabernacle n. 6 b), etc. Also, tin town.
1884Lichfield Diocesan Mag. Jan. 11/2 It was decided to build ‘a little bit of a tin tabernacle’. 1886Marquess of Bute Let. 17 Apr. in D. H. Blair John Patrick 3rd Marquess of Bute (1921) ix. 154 The persistent wish of my Lord of Argyll to have what he calls an ‘opening’ of the tin temple in August. 1897E. Edwards Journey through S. Afr. viii. 48 It would not be out of place to refer to Kimberley as a ‘tin town’. 1919A. T. Bassett S. Barnabas' Oxford iv. 36 This was before the ‘tin’ church at Cowley S. John existed. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions i. vi. 242 That's the Station Refreshment Rooms, a tin place, just opposite. 1934Dylan Thomas Let. Oct. (1966) 143 We made a tour of the pubs..drinking to the..destruction of the Tin Bethels. 1937New Statesman 13 Nov. 802/2 The several designs of late-Victorian tin-chapel in the slums of a northern industrial town. 1962‘J. le Carré’ Murder of Quality x. 108 That parson man from the tin tabernacle. 1979‘P. O'Connor’ Into Strong City ii. xxix. 103 Being born again had become no longer a derisive tin chapel slogan but a phrase to describe what was happening to me.
5. Special Combs.: tin-arsed a. Austral. and N.Z. slang, very lucky; tin-back Austral. slang, a very lucky man; tin-bath (bath n.1 18), the mass of melted tin in a tin-furnace; tin bill: see quot.; † tin-blain, a blain or inflammatory swelling of the tongue in horses; † tin-boat, a pontoon or the like made of tin (or some alloy of tin): cf. pontoon n.1 1, quots. 1710 and 1811; tin-bound n. = bound n.1 3 c; hence tin-bound v. trans., to mark out the boundaries of (a piece of ground) for tin-mining; whence tin-bounder, -bounding; tin can, (a) (see sense 2 a above); (b) slang (chiefly U.S.), a warship, esp. a destroyer (often, one of an older design); also applied to a submarine; tin-canning N.Z., a greeting or serenading on a special occasion by beating tin cans; hence tin-can v. trans. (cf. tin-kettle v.); tin-clad a., covered with tin; n. [after iron-clad], a lightly amoured boat; tin disease = tin pest below; tin ear, (a) slang = cauliflower ear s.v. cauliflower 2; (b) colloq. (usu. with indefinite art.), tone-deafness, aural insensitivity, esp. in phr. to have a tin ear; also fig.; hence tin-eared a.; tin-enamel, white tin-glaze decorated in enamel colours; hence tin-enamelled a.; tin-field, a tract of country yielding tin; tin fish: see fish n.1 1 h; tin-floor, (a) a floor made of tin; (b) a horizontal course or stratum of tin ore: see floor n. 12; tin-frame: see quot.; tin-glaze, a glaze for fine pottery, having an oxide of tin as a basis; hence tin-glazed a.; tin-gravel, gravel containing tin ore, which is obtained by streaming; tin-ground = tin-field; tin-hammer, a hammer with a heavy tin head, used to drive home tightly fitting bolts, etc.; tin hare slang (chiefly Austral.) = electric hare s.v. electric a. 2 b; also fig. (in quot. 1941 a nickname for a train); tin helmet = tin hat 1 a; hence tin-helmeted a.; tin-house, (a) a house constructed of tin; (b) a building where tin is worked; tin-liquor, a solution of tin in strong acid mixed with common salt, used as a mordant in dyeing; Tin Lizzie: see Lizzie 2; tin-loaf, a loaf baked in a tin, a pan-loaf; tin-mordant, a mordant consisting of a solution of tin in acid, as tin-liquor; tin-mouth, a sun-fish found in the Mississippi, the crappie; tin-opener, an instrument for opening soldered tins; tin pest, the crumbling of pure tin that occurs at low temperatures as the ordinary white allotrope changes to grey tin; cf. grey modification s.v. grey, gray a. 8 c; tin printing (see quot. 1957); tin-pulp, the precipitate from a solution of tin chloride and yellow prussiate of potash, used for dyeing; tin-putty, putty-powder; tin-pyrites, a sulphide of tin: see pyrites; tin-rock, a variety of rock pigeon; tin-salt, the crystalline hydrated chloride of tin, SnCl22H2O, obtained by dissolving tin in hot hydrochloric acid; also, with pl., any salt of tin; tin-saw, ‘a saw used by bricklayers for cutting kerfs in bricks’ (Knight Dict. Mech. 1877); tin-scrap, the waste tin-plate in the manufacture of tin-ware; tin-silver, imitation silver made of tin; tin-spar (see quot. 1796); tin-spirits = tin-liquor; tin-stuff, a miner's name for tin ore; tin-vat, a vessel in which tin-liquor is kept; tin wash, stream tin (see 1 b); tin-washing = tin-streaming; pl. works where tin-streaming is done; tin wedding orig. U.S., the tenth anniversary of a wedding (cf. wedding vbl. n. 2 b); tin-witts: see quots.; tinwoman, a woman who sells tin (cf. tinman); tin-work, often pl. -works, a place where tin is worked or manufactured; so tin-worker, -working; tin-worm, the ‘worm’ or spiral tube of a still, made of tin. See also tinfoil, -glass, -kettle, -pot, -tack, etc.
1937Partridge Dict. Slang 888/1 Tinny, adj... Occ. *tin-arsed. 1971R. F. Brissenden Winter Matins 25 This tin-arsed character Hasn't been there six months before he starts To fidget, gets to grizzling in his beer.
1897W. T. Goodge Hits! Skits! & Jingles! (1899) 150 And a ‘*tin⁓back’ is a party Who's remarkable for luck.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1249 (Tin-Refining) Into the *tin-bath, billets of green wood are plunged.
1778Pryce Min. Cornub. v. iv. 291 The manner of agreeing for or buying the Tin Ore..being to give *Tin bills or promissory notes to the owners thereof. Ibid. 292 This makes what they call the Tin bill trade so noted in this county.
1614Markham Cheap Husb. i. vi. (1668) 74 For the Blain on the tongue, of some called the *Tin-blain, it is a blister which groweth at the roots of the tongue.
1677Lond. Gaz. No. 1199/3 Some of the biggest Cannon out of the Magazine at Delft, and the *Tin Boats from the Hague. 1692Siege Lymerick 4 This day there came into our Camp Twenty Nine Tin-Boats.
1865Standard 11 July, The Beam mine had been worked by *tin bounders under the custom of Cornwall.
Ibid., Up to 1858 the mine had been worked under the custom of *tin bounding. 1883Pollock Land Laws ii. (1887) 50 In Cornwall..called ‘tin-bounding’, from the setting out of the working by bounds which is the adventurer's first step towards establishing his claim.
1770G. Washington Diary 18 Nov. (1925) I. 442 I was to pay 6 Dollars and give them a Quart *Tinn Can. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Tin-can, a metal vessel for holding liquids. 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Tin Can, the ordinary name for the cans of tinned iron now so widely used. 1937Sun (Baltimore) 20 Apr. 15/3 Of the forty-seven destroyers out with the United States fleet..thirty-nine are the ‘tin cans’ of the World War days. 1957J. Frame Owls do Cry ii. xix. 84 We tin-canned them and threw rice at them. 1959N.Z. Listener 10 July 5/3 With us were the first warships I had seen in the heavy seas, and some of the American tin cans they gave us under Lease Lend. 1974H. Gruppe Truxton Cipher iii. 31 He had noticed the Admiral's wince at Pozo's use of the archaic phrase ‘tin cans’ to denote destroyers. 1981G. Markstein Ultimate Issue 27 ‘Boy, you must have been cramped in that sub.’.. ‘Plenty of space. You'd be surprised how roomy those tin cans are.’
1926A. F. Webb Miss Peters' Special vii. 62 A promoter of most of the *tin-canning parties when anyone got married. 1953M. Scott Breakfast at Six (1960) ii. 19 The chaps are coming up tonight. Tin-canning. The usual thing. Thought I'd better warn you.
1873Howells Chance Acquaintance ii, The slender *tin-clad spire of its church. 1887Sci. Amer. 23 Apr. 263/3 He converted..seven transports into what were called ‘tinclads’, or musket-proof gunboats.
1908H. C. Cooper tr. Holleman's Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 275 It [sc. white tin] turns very slowly into gray tin, falling to powder, probably because of the increase in volume (this phenomenon is called the ‘*tin-disease’). 1965Phillips & Williams Inorg. Chem. I. vii. 246 In cold countries the disintegration of organ pipes and other tin objects has..been observed, and the phenomenon was known as tin disease.
1923Dialect Notes V. 239 *Tin ear on, to put a, v. phr. To strike or beat, especially, about the head. 1935Peabody Bull. (Baltimore) Dec. 42/2 A player has a ‘tin ear’ when his intonation is poor and his playing is mechanical. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Jan. 39/2 He gives the, possibly false, impression, that he has a ‘tin ear’, as his countrymen put it, for many of the popular art-forms he discusses. 1962Young & Willmott Family & Kinship in E. London (rev. ed.) i. vi. 101 A man with skill as a boxer, and a ‘tin ear’ (cauliflower ear) to prove it, had..prestige. 1975Times 17 Apr. 14/4 Manson had a tin ear but..the Beach Boys recorded at least one of his songs. 1981L. Deighton XPD xviii. 159 ‘Do you play the piano?’.. ‘My wife insisted I get it for Billy, but that kid's got a tin ear.’
1975New Yorker 28 Apr. 130/1 Who but a *tin-eared organ fancier.. can bear to listen to elaborate contrapuntal textures sounded in consecutive fifths?
1900F. Litchfield Pottery & Porcelain ii. 14 Stanniferous or *tin-enamel. 1964H. Hodges Artifacts ii. 51 Today the terms faience, majolica and tin-enamel glaze are all variously applied to mean wares with a red body covered with a tin-opacified lead glaze which has been coloured with over-glaze designs. 1981‘J. Gash’ Vatican Rip x. 86 Forged nineteenth-century tin-enamel porcelain maiolicas.
1933Burlington Mag. July 16/1 The *tin-enamelled ware, façon de Pise, especially for the shelves of pharmacies and still-rooms. 1974Country Life 5 Dec. 1728/1 Faience is tin-enamelled earthenware, not porcelain.
1898Daily News 26 Apr. 9/4 The tin wash and tailings of the leading tin sluicing mines of the Ringarooma *Tinfield. 1907Daily Chron. 28 Sept. 5/4 Prospectors in the Government tin-fields at Waterberg.
1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 185 On this *Tin-floor or Bed may the Hops be turned..with less expence of Fuel. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 1241 The stanniferous small veins,..interposed between certain rocks,..are commonly called tin-floors.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Tin-frame, Corn[wall], a sleeping-table used in dressing tin-ore slimes, and discharged by turning it upon an axis..and then dashing water over it.
1897C. F. Binns Ceramic Technol. ii. 17 These wares were uniformly coated with opaque *tin glazes. 1975Times 18 Feb. 13/1 Tin glaze earthenware chalice.
1904Daily Chron. 7 July 8/4 The *tin-glazed ware of Delft, and the salt-glazed stoneware of Germany.
1874J. H. Collins Metal Mining 55 The deposit of *tin gravel at the mouth of the Carnon Valley.
1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xiii. 401 To fill up the space once occupied by the *tin-ground.
1934Webster, *Tin hare. 1941K. Tennant Battlers 159 The ‘Tin Hare's’ whistle was heard in the distance. 1969Northern Territory News (Darwin) Focus '69 109/1 Many top notch tin hare chasers tried at open coursing are ‘left for dead’ by very ordinary live hare chasers.
1934Webster, *Tin helmet. 1942E. Waugh Put out More Flags i. 40 A man in a tin helmet shouted.., ‘Take cover, there.’ 1980‘T. Hinde’ Sir Henry & Sons i. 10 He mounted a tin helmet on the top of a rifle.
1939‘N. Blake’ Smiler with Knife xi. 156 The black-faced miners, *tin-helmeted. 1983C. Dexter Riddle of Third Mile i. 10 The tin-helmeted head spattered with blood.
1798H. M. Williams Tour in Switzer. I. x. 133 This admirable mimick-creation of silver torrents, mossy forests, *tin-houses and glass lakes. 1904Daily News 19 Nov. 12 The mills and tin house were stopped for nearly an hour.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Tin-liquor.
Ibid. s.v. Loaf, The cottage loaf; *tin loaves.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1252 *Tin mordants, for dyeing scarlet.
1878C. Hallock Sportsman's Gaz. 378 Sand Perch, or Bachelor Perch; called also ‘*Tin-Mouth’. 1888Goode Amer. Fishes 71 Pomoxys annularis..has other names of local application as ‘Tin Mouth’, ‘Bridge Perch’.
1895Daily News 21 June 3/7 Duggan and Farrell struck at her with a *tin opener.
1902H. C. Cooper tr. Holleman's Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. 261 It [sc. white tin] turns very slowly into gray tin, falling to powder (this phenomenon is called the *tin-pest). 1933Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 540 This change does not proceed with disintegrating effects until considerably lower temperatures, when the ‘Tin-Pest’, experienced in organ-pipes, during cold winters on the Continent, occurs. 1960E. S. Hedges Tin & its Alloys i. 2 There seems to be a paucity of very ancient objects made entirely of tin—a lack which is sometimes laid at the door of the disintegration of tin through ‘tin pest’.
1887Amer. Lithographer & Printer 2 Apr. 192/3 Could you give me something practical on *tin printing? 1957Encycl. Brit. XIV. 214/1 Tin Printing, which was introduced about 1875, is the application of the lithographic process to the decoration of metal plate. A substantial percentage of can-label work formerly done by the paper lithographer has in recent years gone to the tin lithographers... Sheets of prepared tin..are fed into the press and are then oven dried at high temperature, this procedure being repeated for each additional colour. 1968Gloss. Terms Offset Lithogr. Printing (B.S.I.) 33 Tin printing machine, (deprecated) a machine for printing on sheet metal.
1874W. Crookes Dyeing & Calico-Print. ii. i. 166 The so-called prussiate of tin, or *tin-pulp, is chiefly used as an ingredient in printing steam-blues on cotton.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 801 The last polish is given [to marble] with *tin-putty.
1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 75 *Tin Pyrites. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 1241 There are only two ores of tin; the peroxide, or tin-stone, and tin pyrites.
1892Greener Breech-Loader 237 The greater portion of the pigeons used for trap shooting are brought over from that port [Antwerp], and sold here as *Tin Rocks.
1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 229 Boiling with phosphorous acid or *tin salt.
1681Grew Musæum iii. i. v. 307 A Yellow *Tin-Spar from Ireland. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 198 The yellowish grey [tin stone] is often called Tinspar.
1877O'Neill in Encycl. Brit. VII. 574/2 The solution of tin used by dyers..commonly called ‘*tin spirits’.
1778W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 67 The Tinners or Miners..give it the name of *Tin-stuff.
1865–72Watts Dict. Chem. III. 252 In the *tin-vat, commonly used for calico-printing, the indigo is reduced by a solution of stannous oxide in caustic potash or soda. 1898*Tin wash [see tin-field above].
1869A. R. Wallace Malay Archip. I. 43 Extensive *tin-washings, employing over a thousand Chinese.
1863Harper's Mag. Nov. 856/2 Mr Jones's people made him a *tin-wedding visit on the tenth anniversary of his marriage. 1981N.Y. Times 19 July ii. 25/4 A tin wedding bouquet and a brooch of jewelled flowers sit side by side.
1853Ure Dict. Arts II. 858 ‘*Tin witts’: the ore obtained from the stamp floors. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Tin-witts, Corn[wall], the product of the first dressing of tin-ores, containing, besides tinstone, other heavy minerals (wolfram and metallic sulphides).
1884M. E. Wilkins in Harper's Mag. June 29/2 Her customers..had grown used to the novelty of a *tinwoman, instead of a tinman.
1475Rolls of Parlt. VI. 134/2 A *Tyn werk within the said Counte of Cornewaill, called the Myne of the Cleker. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. 184 Of these Mines or tinne-workes, there be two kinds. 1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xiii. 408 An epoch corresponding with that to which the Cornish stream tin-works belong.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. 185 Hee delivered rules and precepts to these *Tinne-workers.
1827G. Higgins Celtic Druids Pref. 51 Before this *tin-working nation dived into the bowels of the earth.
1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 53 The *tin-worms of stills.
Add:[2.] e. ellipt. for tin-loaf below.
1957J. Scade in Sheppard & Newton Story of Bread xiii. 136 Tin loaves are normally made from softer doughs than..the crusty type of bread... Square tin. Produced from the same dough as above in tins measuring..7 × 5 × 4½ inches. 1967J. Sizer Craft Breadmaking 15/2 In this section I will deal with some of the many types of tin loaves which are made in the trade... Popular loaves are the 14 oz. and 1{threeon4} lb. tin. 1987Independent 15 Jan. 2/5 The line of chaps..does not wait for mass-produced sliced white. Their target was a local baker where they hoped for a large wholemeal, a long tin, or a crusty cob.
▸ colloq. (orig. and chiefly Brit.). to do (exactly) what it says on the tin and variants: to be or do exactly what one would expect judging by name or reputation; to do what is claimed.
1997Campaign 14 Feb. 18 The Negotiation Centre..does exactly what it says on the tin. 1999Muzik June 100/2 ‘Make it Rock’ does exactly what it says on the tin, courtesy of a roof-raising breakdown. 2001Which? Dec. 16/2 A personal digital assistant..should do exactly what it says on the tin. It should help you out, make your life a bit easier. 2004Snowboard UK Jan. 22/2 Essentially ‘doing what it says on the tin’, these [sc. lowbacks] were super short, stubbly little things on the back of bindings.
▪ II. tin, v.|tɪn|
Forms: see prec.
[f. prec. n. Cf. Du., LG. -tinnen, Ger. -zinnen.]
1. trans. To cover with a thin deposit of tin; to coat or plate with tin.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xxxvii. (Tollem. MS.), Brasen vessel ben sone reed and rousti..and haue an yuel sauoure and smel, but þey be tynned. c1440Promp. Parv. 494/1 Tynnyn wythe tynne, stanno. 1599A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 54/1 Take a copper basen which is not tinned. 1601Holland Pliny (1634) II. 517 A deuise to tin pots, pans, and other pieces of brasse..with white lead or tinglasse. 1747H. Glasse Cookery v. 68 Take great Care the Pots or Sauce-pans..be well tinned, for fear of giving the Broths or Soops any brassy Taste. 1816P. Cleaveland Min. 525 Tin-plate..consists of iron, whose surface is tinned to prevent oxidation. 1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. xix. (ed. 3) 182 The man who pickles and tins the pins.
2. In soldering iron, brass, etc., To perform the preliminary process of heating the surfaces and covering them with a thin coating of the solder.
1873E. Spon Workshop Receipts Ser. i. (1888) 366/1 First clean the iron and brass well and then tin them before placing them together for soldering... The articles can be tinned by rubbing while hot with rosin; then rubbing them over with solder.
3. To put up or seal (provisions) in a tin for preservation; to can. (In quot. 1887 intr. for pass.)
1887Cassell's Mag. Feb. 148 Some fish ‘tin’ well, others do not. 1890Daily News 16 Apr. 6/2 The method of tinning milk for use of troops.
▪ III. tin
obs. form of þin, thine (after a dental).
▪ IV. tin
var. tind v. Obs., to kindle; var. tine n.2 Obs., loss. |