▪ I. tinfoil, n.
(ˈtɪnfɔɪl)
Forms: see tin n. and foil n.1; also 6 tynfule.
[f. tin n. + foil n.1]
Tin hammered or rolled into a thin sheet; also, a sheet of the same rubbed with quicksilver, used for backing mirrors and precious stones; a similar sheet of an alloy of tin and lead, or of aluminium, used as a wrapping esp. for protection from moisture or air.
| 1467–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 92 Pro le Tynfole empt. pro ornacione et pictura del Soteltez erga festum Natal. Domini, xj d. 1477–9 Acc. Exch. K. R. Bundle 496 No. 18 (P.R.O.) Pro..Tynnefoile, Canvas [etc.]. 1481–3 Ibid. No. 26, vij dos' Tynfoill. 1525–6 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 108 Pro preparacione le borehede et tynfule. 1586 Rates of Customes E viij b, Tin foile the groce iiij.s. 1681 Grew Musæum iii. ii. iii. 335 With this the Tin-Foile is made to stick close to the backsides of Looking-Glasses. 1762 Franklin Lett., etc. Wks. 1840 V. 408 It is what they call tinfoil, or leaf-tin, being tin milled between rollers. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 715 The tin-foils are only used in the case of colourless stones. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1251 Tin-foil coated with quicksilver makes the reflecting surface of glass mirrors. 1876 Harley Royle's Mat. Med. 256 Tin-foil, so largely used by druggists to wrap up medicines and form capsules for bottles, is an alloy of tin, and contains from 25 to 75 per cent. of lead. |
| attrib. 1849 Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 146 By a tin-foil communication, a connection is made. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 5142 Plain, fancy, and tinfoil papers. |
▪ II. ˈtinfoil, v.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To cover or coat with tinfoil. Hence ˈtinfoiled (-fɔɪld) ppl. a., esp. fig.
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. ii, This man! so graced, guilded, or to use a more fit metaphor..so tinfoild by nature. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. iii. 399 T'is bracteata fælicitas, as Seneca termes it, tin-foyl'd happines if it be happines at all. a 1658 Cleveland Hecatomb 9 My Text defeats your Art, ties Nature's tongue, Scorns all her Tinfoyl'd Metaphors of Pelf. 1887 Sci. Amer. 1 Oct. 215/3 The glass..after being tinfoiled, is..pushed across the table containing the mercury. |