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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.

TINKLER, n. Also -ar, tincla(i)r. An older variant in Sc. and n. Eng. of Tinker, q.v. [′tɪŋklər; Fif. + ′təiŋklər]

1. An itinerant tinsmith and pedlar (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Per., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Uls. 1953 Traynor). Gen.Sc. Freq. attrib.Sc. 1720 W. Mitchell Strange and Wonderful Sermon 11:
If I make not a better Minister than any of them, I shall quate the Tinclar Trade.Ags. 1736 Session Rec. Arbirlot MS. (18 Sept.):
He entertained Tinklers and Randies in his House on the Sabbath day giving them drink till they were drunk.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 140:
Nane can stand her but tinkler wives.Ayr. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 18, Jolly Beggars Recit. 3:
Ev'n wi' a tinkler-gipsy's messin . . . Guzzling wi' a tinkler-hizzie.Sc. 1817 Blackwood's Mag. (May) 157:
They were called the Tinklers (Tinkers) of Yetholm, from the males being chiefly then employed in mending pots and other culinary utensils, especially in their peregrinations through the hilly and less populous parts of the country.Sc. 1830 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) III. 58:
The tinkler-randy, whase looks gar you ratherly incline to the ither side o' the road.Ayr. 1830 Galt Lawrie Todd i. ii.:
A gang of tinklers, with smiddy bellows, and other implements for making horn-spoons.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales (1874) 284:
Lang, and black, and tinkler-looking.Abd. 1867 A. Allardyce Goodwife 11:
Rin, Jinse, for yon's a tinkler wife, She'll deave the days wi' din.m.Lth. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 148:
Aye on the move frae toun to toun, mair like tinklers nor dacent workin folk.Sh. 1898 Shetland News (23 July):
A shappin' can 'at shü bought frae da tinklers for fowerpence ha'peny.Ags. 1915 V. Jacob Songs 36:
I'll bide wi' him i' the tinkler-van.Ags. 1921 V. Jacob Bonnie Joann 35:
Tinkler-fowk, an' fowk wi' means.Slg. 1932 W. D. Cocker Poems 57:
O queer stravaigin' tinkler men.Ork. 1952 R. T. Johnston Stenwick Days (1984) 57:
Chloe stared wide-eyed at her mirror. It had really happened. Just as the tinkler wife had said. sm.Sc. 1979 Alan Temperley Tales of Galloway (1986) 17:
He was in his early forties, though seeming more like a young man in his twenties, when finally he quit the army and returned to the tinklers. wm.Sc. 1987 Anna Blair Scottish Tales (1990) 17:
Resentment by now had taken Duff to lay before the Sheriff of Banffshire a complaint that the gypsy James Macpherson had made an unprovoked attack on a douce respectable laird and his party. The Sheriff, much impressed by Duff's well-put-on airs outlawed Jamie since he was a roving tinkler with no fixed home in which he could be found and arrested. Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 140:
"Travellers? Do you mean tinklers?"
Mackay wis becoming annoyed wi this proud, ill-mannered gadgie. "Weel, if ye say so then I suppose they are, but we call weresels Travellers."

Special combs., phrs. and deriv.: ¶(1) tinc(k)larian, adj., n., of the tinker sort, a word devised to describe himself by William Mitchell, an eccentric Edinburgh pamphleteer (1670–1740), and a tinsmith by trade (see quot.). Hence tincklarianism; (2) tinkler fog, a kind of moss with a small graceful flower (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); (3) tinkler's curse (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 194; Gen.Sc.), -tippence, -whussel (Ags., Per.), something of no value or consequence; (4) to play the tinkler, to act in a cowardly or treacherous manner.(1) Sc. 1711–2 Titles of Pamphlets:
The Great Tincklarian Doctor Mitchel, His Speech, . . . That Eminent Divine and Historian Doctor William Mitchel, Professor of Tincklarianism.Sc. 1728 Last and dying Words of the Tinclarian Doctor 19:
The Reason I call my self the Tincklarian Doctor, is, became I am a Tinklar and cures Pans and old Lantrins.Slg. 1810 G. Galloway Poems 26:
Lords, ladies, beggars with tinclarian mixture.(3) Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 29, 39:
There be nane worth a tinkler's tippence. . . . A tinkler's curse she did na care.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xxi.:
I dinna care a tinkler's curse for menners.(4) Sc. a.1769 D. Herd Sc. Songs 269:
They both play'd the tinclair With consciences black like a cra's man.

2. A coarse foul-mouthed abusive person. Gen.Sc. Cf. Tinker, n., 2. Also attrib., esp. in tinkler-tongue(d) (Ags., Per. 1972); a tough malicious person, sometimes playfully applied to children.Ayr. 1784–6 Burns When Guildford Good v., Author's Earnest Cry xx.:
Charlie Fox threw by the box, An' lows'd his tinkler jaw, man . . . Yon ill-tongued tinkler, Charlie Fox.Rxb. 1821 A. Scott Poems 95:
Your tinkler tongue, quo' she, ilk where Is weel kend for a liar.Edb. 1827 M. & M. Corbett Odd Volume 205:
They said the whisky was ower plenty the last time, — the ill-tongued tinklers!Abd. 1836 J. Grant Tales (1869) 82:
Whan yer tinkler tongued jade o' a wife gaed awa!Lnk. 1885 F. Gordon Pyotshaw xvii.:
A bonny gurry-wurry I had ower't wi' yon tinkler tongit Hielant wife.