tin-tackn.
A tack, or short light iron nail, coated with tin.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > made of specific material
tin-tack1839
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xxxv. 346 A..parcel of tin tacks and a very large hammer.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxviii. 249 Mrs. Jarley served out the tin tacks from a linen pocket.
1887 G. R. Sims Mary Jane's Mem. vii. 91 He had trodden on a tin-tack on the carpet, point up.
Phrases
colloquial. to come (also get) down to tin tacks = to come (also get) down to brass tacks (or nails) at brass n. Phrases 2. (Found only in the work of G. B. Shaw.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > truthfulness, veracity > speak truly [verb (intransitive)]
say-wellc1390
truth1604
now you're shouting1876
to come (also get) down to tin tacks1921
level1921
1921 G. B. Shaw Pen Portraits (1932) 183 Keats..had he lived, would no doubt have come down from Hyperions and Endymions to tin tacks as a very full-blooded modern revolutionist.
1927 G. B. Shaw in Sunday Express 7 Aug. 7/2 As long as you avoid coming down to tin tacks.
1949 G. B. Shaw Buoyant Billions (1950) iii. 45 Do let us get back to tin tacks. Is Clemmy going to marry him or is she not?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.1839