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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TINKER, n., v. Also †tinckar, †tinkard (Per. 1735 W. A. Gillies Breadalbane (1938) 315), and reduced form tink, dim. tinkie (ne.Sc., Ags., Per. 1972). [′tɪŋk(ər), -i]

I. n. 1. As in †Eng., one of a class of itinerant traders or merchants, freq. living in tents, shacks or caravans, though now becoming urbanised, and dealing in small metal wares, brushes, baskets and the like, gen. manufactured by themselves, or buying and selling horses, old cars, etc., some being of mixed gipsy stock, descendants of dispossessed Highland peasantry and other multifarious origin, a nomadic huxter or pedlar. Gen.Sc., corresponding to Eng. gipsy which has now superseded tinker in common Eng. usage. See also Tinkler, Traveller, Caird. Also attrib.Ayr. 1705 Session Bk. Dundonald (1936) 552:
A company of tinckars drinking and revelling in his house.Lnk. 1718 Minutes J.P.s (S.H.S.) 226:
John Johnstown, a tinker . . . and John Ker . . . passing under the name of tinkers — was found sorning in the high country.Rnf. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ II. 124:
The place is oppressed with gangs of gypsies, commonly called tinkers or randy beggars.Sc. 1836 Chambers's Jnl. (Sept.) 275:
That numerous tribe of vagabonds called tinkers in Scotland (corresponding in their mode of life with gipsies in England).Wgt. 1845 Stat. Acc.² IV. 147:
The bands of tinkers who encamp on the common on their way to and from Ireland.Ayr. 1847 J. Fulton St Innan's Day 5:
Some auld tinker randy.Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 74:
Nae swearing tink', nor beggar body.Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond B. Bowden (1922) 36:
To sleep on the Common amon' the tinks.Abd. 1932 J. White Moss Road 204:
These tinkie folk are good enough for me.Per. 1947 Scots Mag. (Dec.) 198:
Little evidence of their original trade remains, but the Scottish equivalent of the Southern gipsy is none the less always known as a “tink.”Abd. 1952 Huntly Express (25 April):
Loaded with dishes, pots and pans, and the usual tink merchandise.Sc. 1971 Scotland's Travelling People (H.M.S.O.) 83:
Many traditional myths . . . for example the stories of tinkers stealing children, or bad luck falling upon anyone who turns a tinker away from the door.wm.Sc. 1987 Anna Blair Scottish Tales (1990) 59:
'Sakes man, was it the tinks I saw making to the toon did this?' said the miller helping James to his feet. m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 50:
Nou that he's bocht the Peel an duin the ruif,
skailt jaggie wire owre aw oor richts o wey,
whit maitter gin the auld clans staun abeich
tinks want their cruives an poachin never pey. Cai. 1992 James Miller A Fine White Stoor 68:
'Who is it?' she whispered.
'Just some tinks for rabbits, I'll go oot wi them.' Sc. 1994 Robert Crawford in Daniel O'Rourke Dream State 64:
A dominie lochgellied you once
For pronouncing 'Eelensburgh' like those wild, untouchable
tinks em.Sc. 1996 Hamish Henderson in Timothy Neat The Summer Walkers: Travelling People and Pearl-Fishers in the Highlands of Scotland 73:
A residue of antipathy toward the 'Tinks' was still strong in the fifties. But the management came round, Ailidh Dall took a dram and another great collecting tour began. Fif. 1998 Tom Hubbard Isolde's Luve-Daith 6:
The follie waa that a laird biggit lang syne
Ti baur oot tinks; or the pletforms an pillars o stane Abd. 2000 Sheena Blackhall The Singing Bird 23:
The Tarlan Tink's as black as tar
An his lugs cud dee wi a dicht.
He steers his shelt bi the Northern Star
An he rides bi caunlelicht.

Combs.: (1) tinkie-tarrie man, a rag and bone man (Mry. 1930); (2) tinker's tartan, the mottling of the legs caused by sitting too near the fire (n.Sc., Per., Fif., wm.Sc. 1972). See Tartan, n., 5.; (3) tinker's tea, -tay, tinkie's-, tea brewed in a pan without the use of a teapot. Gen.Sc.; ¶(4) tink-tentit, of a tinker's tent.(3) ne.Sc. 1953 Mearns Leader (25 Sept.):
We were haein' gran' tinkies' tay, an weel reekit at that.(4) Lnk. 1924 Scots Mag. (June) 203:
Yer poet gaes us pang-fou pree “Tink-tentit” hospitalitie.

2. Transf. (now gen. in form tink): a disreputable person, one of low character or coarse dissolute behaviour, specif. a foul-mouthed, vituperative, quarrelsome, vulgar person. Gen.Sc. Also attrib. Comb. tink-like.Edb. 1821 W. Liddle Poems 933:
Yer tinker tongue, Immers'd in venom is its sting.Sc. 1914 R. B. Cunninghame Graham Sc. Stories 19:
Ca' ye yon man a gentleman? I just ca' him naething better than a tink.Abd. 1922 G. P. Dunbar Whiff o' Doric 18:
The smith an' cobbler swore an' aith, the thievin' tink tae droon.Kcd. 1933 L. G. Gibbon Cloud Howe (1937) 16, 61:
The Mowats had to go to Bervie for spinners, and a tink-like lot of creatures came and crowded the place. . . . She was only English and they're tinks by nature.Bnff. 1939 J. M. Caie Hills and Sea 58:
There's kindly, honest, eident fowk, There's kyaards an' tinks forbye.Abd. 1971:
Awa, and haud the tink tongue o' ye.wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 4:
Ah cry it a dampt disgrace
That a naebody should tak the maister's place!
To breenge in here, a raggity bare-fit tink,
Wi' the bareface to tell us whit to think. Abd. 1988 Jack Webster Another Grain of Truth (1989) 56:
'Of course you need three cells in your police station at Maud.' 'Ay, fairly that,' would come the reply. 'But that's only for haudin' folk from New Deer and Pitsligo and tink places like that.' m.Sc. 1991 William Neill in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 51:
Thir tinks press furrit for tae hear the better:
thay cairry on as if he wesna deid.

II. v. 1. To abuse with words, to vituperate, esp. in vbl.n. tinkin, abusive railing or scolding, a slanging (Bnff., Abd. 1972).Abd. 1963 Buchan Observer (28 May) 7:
Bess gave Rab's wife a tinking, and the poor woman was in tears.

†2. To construct a turf wall in graduated layers (see quot.). Comb. tinker-fence, a turf wall of this sort. Phs. a different word.Bwk. 1794 A. Bruce Agric. Bwk. (App.) 116–7:
The feal are cast thick, all in the form of the diamond of a pack of cards, and as thick as the length of the side; they are every one set upon edge, the long angles running into one another, and are set perfectly perpendicular; four rows complete the height wanted, and every row, as the dyke advances, is placed two inches within the row beneath. . . . These kind of fences are much used. The name this last is known by, is a tinker-fence, and the operation is called tinkering.