▪ I. tinny, tinnie, n.
(ˈtɪnɪ)
[f. tin n. + -ie, -y, dim. suff.]
1. Sc. A small tin mug, a child's tin.
| 1825 Jamieson, Tinnie, the small jug or porringer..used by children. 1864 Auld Ayr 86 Let us have a tinny of grog. 1906 Scott. Chron. 6 July 482/2 They turned up..each with his or her ‘tinnie’ well in evidence. |
2. Austral. colloq. A can of beer.
| 1974 Telegraph (Brisbane) 2 Mar. 6/5 In olden days audiences took the equivalent of a cut lunch and a few tinnies to the theatre and expected to be entertained for hour after hour. 1978 Sydney Morning Herald 20 Feb. 1 Next time you feel inclined to toss that scrap of paper or tinnie carelessly to the ground, give a thought. 1980 Truck & Bus Transportation Feb. 34/3 We doubt if the driver would have enough room on board to stow his lunch box or a couple of tinnies. |
Add: 3. Austral. A (usu. small) boat with an aluminium hull.
| 1979 Herald (Melbourne) 7 June 35/1 The aluminium ‘tinnie’ has long been a major force in the Australian boat market for its low initial cost, durability and ease of use. 1982 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 5 Sept. 112/1 Tinnies offer value, fun. Dollar for dollar it's hard to go past the simple aluminium dinghy as a versatile fun boat. 1986 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 22 Aug. 33/6, I once sold my dream boat, a 20-footer, and bought a 12-foot tinnie. |
▪ II. tinny, a.
(ˈtɪnɪ)
[f. tin n. + -y.]
1. Consisting of, abounding in, or yielding tin; formerly also, Of tin, made of tin.
| 1552 Huloet, Tynny or of tynne, stanneus. 1576 Baker Jewell of Health 231 Let this be kept in a Sylver or Tynnie vessel. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. xi. 31 Dart, nigh chockt with sands of tinny mines. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. i. 157 Those armes of sea that thrust into the tinny strand. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. vi. 419 Pale Tinny Oar, and Copper's brighter Vein. 1881 Standard 28 Oct. 1/2 The lode is six feet wide, and tinny throughout. |
2. a. Like or resembling tin or that of tin; characteristic of tin; esp. of sounds; in Painting, hard, crude, metallic. Also applied dismissively to (a device which produces) sound of poor quality from which the lower frequencies are largely missing; cheaply contrived.
| 1877 Hallock Sportsman's Gaz. 379 Long tinny mouth [of a fish]. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 831/1 The tone tends towards a certain quality which may be described as ‘tinny’ or metallic. 1892 Sat. Rev. 21 May 597/2 We have accused Mr. Parsons of a hard tinny quality in colour and form. 1904 K. D. Wiggin Affair at Inn 177 She was sitting at the old tinny-sounding spinet. 1908 Daily Chron. 24 Oct. 3/1 How tinny look Claude's landscapes in the room at the National Gallery. 1926 Encycl. Brit. III. 281/2 When the low notes are dropped out, the result is ‘tinny’—high-pitched, shrill, mechanical, lacking in body. 1933 A. Huxley Lett. (1969) 377 The particular nature of the device gives to the brevity something rather tinny, something (in an undesirable sense) artificial. 1980 G. Lancaster Seward's Folly vi. 66 A tinny radio was playing pop music. |
b. Tasting or smelling of tin; tinged with tin.
| 1873 ‘S. Coolidge’ What Katy did at School ii. 30 The cans gave the oysters a curious taste,—tinny, or was it more like solder? 1906 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 213/1 One of the pans in the dairy smelt suspiciously ‘tinny’. |
3. slang. Having plenty of ‘tin’; rich, wealthy.
| 1871 Punch 14 Oct. 160/2 There's heaps of tinny fellows who'll be awful glad to give. |
4. Austral. and N.Z. slang. Lucky. † on the tinny luck: by a lucky chance. Cf. tin-arsed adj., -back s.v. tin n. 5.
| 1918 Chrons. N.Z.E.F. 7 June 205/1 Remarks are heard on the ‘tinny’ luck. 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dialects 50 Tinny, lucky. 1947 I. Douglas Opportunity in Australia 90 Tinny—lucky. 1951 D. W. Ballantyne in Landfall V. 168 And this one's yours, Edith. Hey, you're tinny, aren't you? 1959 G. Slatter Gun in Hand xvii. 229 He'll score because some people are tinny and always win. 1978 O. White Silent Reach xvii. 173 You'll have to be pretty tinny to pin down those blokes. |
Hence ˈtinnily adv., with a tinny sound.
| 1927 J. Masefield Midnight Folk 298 He had no sooner wished, than invisible someones came silently, blocked up the approach to Otter's lair, tinnily reported, ‘Entrance blocked securely’, and disappeared. 1954 M. Sharp Gipsy in Parlour iii. xiii. 133 A bell above my head rang tinnily. 1980 A. Desai Clear Light of Day iv. 171 Teacups clinked on the saucers, tinnily. |