I. ˈtiŋkə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English tinkere, probably from tink tinkle (of imitative origin) + -ere -er
1.
a. : a usually itinerant repairman who mends kitchen or household utensils
b. chiefly Irish : gypsy
a story of wandering tinkers and their struggle against the conventions of society — Paul Rotha
c. : an unskillful mender : bungler
d. : tinner 5
2. : tinker mackerel
3. : one that seeks to change, adjust, or improve often experimentally
desire of every theatrical tinker and literary meddler — Richard Hanser
social tinkers — O.W.Holmes †1935
all of us are … tinkers of words — Holiday
II. verb
( tinkered ; tinkered ; tinkering -k(ə)riŋ ; tinkers )
intransitive verb
: to work or act as or in the manner of a tinker ; especially : to repair or adjust something in an unskilled or experimental manner
the American likes to tinker , and his passion for gadgets is notorious — H.S.Commager
while he could read blueprints … he preferred to experiment and tinker — J.K.Galbraith
even professionals have to tinker to make these sentences come out right — Milton Hall
— often used with with or at
spent … his spare time tinkering with machines — Current Biography
people tinker with their houses and keep adding to them — Mary H. Vorse
the feeling they could also tinker with their social system and their psyches to reach a worldly paradise — J.D.Hart
began to tinker at the wound in rather a clumsy way — Stephen Crane
was always tinkering at verse — W.A.White
— sometimes used with around
is not something that can be easily fixed merely by tinkering around with the cirriculum — Norman Cousins
transitive verb
: to repair, adjust, or experiment with
could expertly tinker pot, pan, or kettle — S.H.Adams
they tinker everything, from decrepit hay rakes to railroad bridges — S.K.Farrington
had tinkered their old car into shape — John Hermann
— sometimes used with up
tinker up as many of the finished models as could be kept off the scrap heap — L.J.Carr