Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Insignificant or unimportant; minor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In the manufacture of tinplate as at present carried on in England, the pot, filled with molten tin, in which the sheet of iron receives its first coating of tin, immediately after being taken out of the palm-oil bath.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective informal Inferior; shoddy.
  • adjective informal Of a country, regime etc., autocratic, especially amusingly so.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin 1700s, from the low esteem for a tinker’s wares.

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