tin-pot
(ˈtɪnˈpɒt, ˈtɪnpɒt)
1. (as two words) A pot made of tin or tin-plate.
| 1772 T. Simpson Vermin-Killer 21 A pound of arsenick..put into a tin pot or kettle. |
2. The pot of molten tin into which the sheet of iron is dipped in the manufacture of tin-plate.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1253 The first rectangle in the range is the tin-pot. 1864 Strauss, etc. Eng. Workshops 78 The first pot, called the tinman's-pan... The second pot, called the tin-pot. 1880 Flower Hist. Trade Tin xiii. 170 From the palm-oil bath by means of tongs, the sheets are passed by the tinman..to the tin pot, which is full of molten tin, and here they remain to soak for a period of 20 minutes. |
3. Short for tin-pot bell: see 4.
| 1895 Miss E. P. Thompson Veil of Liberty ix. 176 The..church next door began to clink its miserable tin-pot—it had once had a good set of bells, but it had felt it prudent to give these to the nation. |
4. attrib. Resembling or suggesting a tin pot in quality or sound; hence contemptuously, without solid worth, of inferior quality, shabby, poor, cheap.
| 1838 Remarks G. F. Taylor's Factory Strike 5 in Pattie's Mod. Stage II, Mr. Taylor, is a patriot in his little tin pot way. 1865 Slang Dict. s.v., ‘He plays a tin-pot game’, i.e., a low or shabby one. Billiards. 1875 W. Morris in Mackail Life (1899) I. 309 Within sound of those tin-pot bells. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed iii, To the tin-pot music of a Western waltz the naked Zanzibari girls danced furiously. 1897 Daily News 23 Mar. 6/7 Made a sacrifice to some miserable tin-pot politicians. 1907 Ibid. 4 Oct., Some tin-pot comic opera receives praise from the very same critics. |
Hence ˈtin-ˌpotter Naut. slang, see quot.; ˈtin-ˈpottery, tin pots or tin-ware collectively.
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Tin-potter, a galley skulker, shamming Abraham. 1850 W. P. Scargill Eng. Sketch-Bk. 7 Dealing in grocery, drapery, and tin-pottery. |