Dictionary: TIM-O-NEER – TIN'FOIL



TIM-O-NEER, n. [Fr. timon; L. temo.]

A helmsman. Mar. Dict.

TIM'OR-OUS, a. [It. timoroso; from L. timor. See Timid.]

  1. Fearful of danger; timid; destitute of courage; as, a timorous female.
  2. Indicating fear; full of scruples; as, timorous doubts; timorous beliefs. Brown. Prior.


Fearfully; timidly; without boldness; with much fear. Let dastard souls be timorously wise. Philips.


Fearfulness; timidity; want of courage. Swift.

TI-MOUS, a. [from time.]

Early; timely. [Not in use.] Bacon.

TI-MOUS-LY, adv.

In good season. [Not in use.] Ch. Relig. Appeal.

TIN, n. [Sax. tin; D. tin; G. zinn; Sw. tenn; Dan. tin, pewter, and tinblik, tin, that is, tin-plate; Ir. stan; W. ystaen, that is spread or is sprinkled over, a stain, and tin; Corn. staen; Arm. stean; Fr. etain; L. stannum; Sp. estaño; Port. estanho; It. stagno. The latter signifies tin, pewter, and a pond, L. stagnum.]

  1. A white metal, with a slight tinge of yellow. It is soft, non-elastic, very malleable, and when a bar of it is bent near the ear, distinguished by a crackling sound called the cry of tin. It is used for culinary vessels, being for this purpose usually combined with lead, forming pewter; and alloyed with small proportions of antimony; copper, and bismuth, is formed into various wares resembling silver, under the names of block-tin, britannia, &c. Equal parts of tin and lead compose soder. Tin united with copper in different proportions, forms bronze, bell-metal, and speculum-metal. D. Olmsted
  2. Thin plates of iron covered with tin.

TIN, v.t.

T cover with tin, or overlay with tinfoil.


Stain; color. [Obsolete. We now use tinge and tincture.]

TINCT, v.t. [L. tingo, tinctus.]

To stain or color; to imbue. [Obs.]

TINC'TURE, n. [L. tinctura; Fr. teinture. See Tinge.]

  1. The finer and more volatile parts of a substance, separated by a menstruum; or an extract of a part of the substance of a body, communicated to the menstruum. Hence,
  2. In medicine, a spirituous solution of such of the proximate principles of vegetables and animals as are soluble in pure alcohol, or proof-spirit; spirit containing medicinal substances in solution. Cyc. Coxe.
  3. A tinge or shade of color; as, a tincture of red.
  4. Slight taste superadded to any substance; as, a tincture of orange-peel.
  5. Slight quality added to any thing; as, a tincture of French manners. All manners take a tincture from our own. Pope.


  1. To tinge; to communicate a slight foreign color to; to impregnate with some extraneous matter. A little black paint will tincture and spoil twenty gay colors. Watts.
  2. To imbue the mind; to communicate a portion of any thing foreign; as, a mind tinctured with skepticism.


Tinged; slightly impregnated with something foreign.


Tinging; imbuing; impregnating with a foreign substance.

TIND, v.t. [Sax. tendan, tynan, to kindle; Goth. tandyan; Sw. tända; Dan. tænder; Eng. tine; tinder, G. zunder; probably allied to Ir. and Gaelic, teine, fire, W. Corn. and Arm. tan; and perhaps our word sun is of the same family.]

To kindle. [Obs.] But hence,

TIND'ER, n. [Sax. tyndre.]

Something very inflammable, used for kindling fire from a spark; as, scorched linen. Swift.

TIND'ER-BOX, n. [tinder and box.]

A box in which tinder is kept. Atterbury.

TIND'ER-LIKE, a. [tinder and like.]

Like tinder; very inflammable. Shak.

TINE, n. [Sax. tinder; Ice. tindr; probably the L. dens, G. zahn, W. dant, a tooth; at any rate, it is a shoot.]

  1. The tooth or spike of a fork; a prong; also, the tooth of a harrow or drag.
  2. Trouble; distress. [Not in use.] Spenser.

TINE, v.i. [Sax. tynan, from teine, tan, fire, supra.]

To rage; to smart; to fight. [Obs.] Spenser.

TINE, v.t.1 [Sax. tynan.]

To kindle; to set on fire. [Obs.] [See Tind.] Spenser.

TINE, v.t.2 [Sax. tynan; L. teneo.]

To shut or inclose; to fill. [Not in use or local.]


Anciently an officer of the forest in England, who had the nocturnal care of vert and venison. Cyc.

TI'NET, n. [tine, to shut, supra.]

In old writers, brushwood and thorns for making and repairing hedges. Cyc.

TIN'FOIL, n. [tin and L. folium, a leaf.]

Tin reduced to a thin leaf.