Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tinker's damn

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.84 in modern English

Syllables: tin-ker's -damn
IPA

18

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An insignificant or worthless amount or thing.

Example Sentences

"[…] is not worth (to use expression excited by honest indignation) a tinker's damn : and if Mrs. Chatterly has no other salvo for her precious reputation. […]"
"So now, stimulated by some further experience with that world which does not care a tinker’s damn whether a verb agrees with its subject in number and person or not, she permitted the taxicab to jounce her smile out of all semblance to anything calmly superior and into a very unschoolmarmish grin."
"[…] and I wouldn't sell you a tinker's damn."

Etymology

Merriam-Webster finds tinker's damn in print since 1839 and suggests that it derives from tinkers' reputation for swearing. The spelling tinker's dam is attested since 1858, and phrases.org.uk notes the disagreement over whether the term originated from tinkers' swearing or instead from their use of small, single-use dams to hold solder. The latter explanation has been offered since 1877; on the other hand, the phrase tinker's curse is attested since 1824 and the phrase worth a tinker's cuss is attested since 1854, for which reason Etymonline considers the "dam" derivation an "ingeniously elaborate but baseless" invention of later writers.

Inflected Forms

tinker's dam (alternative) tinker's darn (alternative)

Phrases

not give a tinker's damn

Synonyms

tinker's cuss tinker's toot damn darn hoot red cent shit shucks tinker's dam

Questions

What does tinker's damn mean?: An insignificant or worthless amount or thing.
Where does tinker's damn come from?: Merriam-Webster finds tinker's damn in print since 1839 and suggests that it derives from tinkers' reputation for swearing. The spelling tinker's dam is attested since 1858, and phrases.org.uk notes the disagreement over whether the term originated from tinkers' swearing or instead from their use of small, single-use dams to hold solder. The latter explanation has been offered since 1877; on the other hand, the phrase tinker's curse is attested since 1824 and the phrase worth a tinker's cuss is attested since 1854, for which reason Etymonline considers the "dam" derivation an "ingeniously elaborate but baseless" invention of later writers.

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