different between tinker vs tinkering

English

Etymology

From Middle English tinkere, perhaps from Old English *tincere, from tin (“tin”) + Old English *cere (as in b?ocere (“beekeeper”)), from Proto-Germanic *kazjaz (“vessel-maker”), from Proto-Germanic *kaz? (“vessel; vat; tub”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?t??k?(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?t??k?/
• Hyphenation: tin?ker
• Rhymes: -??k?(?)

Noun

tinker (plural tinkers)

1. An itinerant tinsmith and mender of household utensils made of metal.
2. (dated, chiefly Britain and Ireland, offensive) A member of the Irish Traveller community. A gypsy.
3. (usually with "little") A mischievous person, especially a playful, impish youngster.
4. Someone who repairs, or attempts repair, on anything mechanical, or who invents such devices; one who tinkers; a tinkerer.
5. The act of repair or invention. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
6. (military, obsolete) A hand mortar.
7. Any of various fish: the chub mackerel, the silverside, the skate, or a young mackerel about two years old.
8. A bird, the razor-billed auk.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• if ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkers' hands

Translations

Verb

tinker (third-person singular simple present tinkers, present participle tinkering, simple past and past participle tinkered)

1. (intransitive) To fiddle with something in an attempt to fix, mend or improve it, especially in an experimental or unskilled manner.
2. (intransitive) To work as a tinker.
3. (transitive) To tinker with; to tweak or attempt to fix.
   • 1894, Thomas Hardy, A Few Crusted Characters

     the broken bureau-lock and tinkered window-pane

Translations

See also

• tinker, tailor
• tinker's damn

Further reading

• tinker in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Kinter, reknit

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??k???/
• Hyphenation: tin?ker?ing

Verb

tinkering

1. present participle of tinker

Noun

tinkering (plural tinkerings)

1. An experimental fix or change.