▪ I. tinsel, n.1 Chiefly north. and (from c 1400 only) Sc.
(ˈtɪns(ə)l)
Also 3 tinsil, 4 -ill, -elle, 4–7 -ell, 5–7 -ale, -all, 6 -aill; 4 tynsil, -yll, 4–6 -al(l, 4–7 -ell, 5–7 -el, 6 -ele; 5 tensale, -elle.
[ME. tinsel, tynsel, etc., prob. ad. ON. *t{yacu}nsla, f. t{yacu}na (= ME. tin-en, tyn-en, tine v.2) to lose, perish, destroy, with the Norse suffix -sla (as in geymsla, rennsla, etc.): cf. mod.Norw. tynsla destruction, damage, spilling.]
† 1. The losing of something, or the sustaining of harm, damage, or detriment; loss. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 916 (Cott.), I most couer þis tinsel [T. loos] are. a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxxxvi. 1 Worldis men gretis bot nouȝt for tynsil of þair godes. a 1400 R. Brunne's Chron. Wace 2352 (Petyt MS.) Hure ouer-þoughte mykel more Þe wraþthe of hure fader þe kyng..Þan þe tynsell of oþer thyng. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 9936 What harme that day to the be-felle! Thow may telle of thi tenselle. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 387, I meyn fer mar the tynsell off my men. c 1520 M. Nisbet N. Test. in Scots, Acts xxvii. 22, I counsale you to be of good counfort, for tynsele [Wyclif, los; Gr. ἀποβολή] of na persoun of you salbe. 1556 Lauder Tractate 382 In this Consistis, with⁓outtin faill, Boith the wynning and tinsaill. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxii. 67 Quhair tentles bairnis may to their tinsall tak The neiv with na thing, and the full refuse. 1728 Ramsay Twa Cut-purses 33 Where'er your tinsel be, Ye canna lay the wyte on me. 1737 ― Scots Prov. xv. (1750) 42 He that's far frae his gear is near his tinsel. |
† 2. The condition of being ‘lost’ spiritually; perdition, damnation. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11946 (Cott.) Þou godds fede, Sun o tinsel and o ded! a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxxxvii[i]. 12 [11] Wher ani in thrughes sal telle þi milthnes, Ore in tinsel [L. in perditione] þi sothnes? c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. 828 Als he slew petir and paule, Till eke þe tynsale of his sawle. |
3. Sc. Law. Forfeiture, deprivation; now only in some archaic phrases: see quot. 1838.
| 1424 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) II. 5/1 Vnder the payne of tynsal of all gold and siluer that beis fundyn. 1565–75 Diurn. Occurr. (Bann. Cl.) 80 Vnder the paynes of tynsall of lyif, landis and goodis. c 1575 Balfour's Practicks (1754) 17 Under the pane of ten pundis, and tinsell of his office. 1678 Sir G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. i. xxx. §6 (1699) 155 Punished with tinsel of Life and Goods. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot., Tinsel of the Feu, is an irritancy incident to every feu-right, by the failure to pay the feu-duty for two years whole and together... Tinsel of Superiority, is a remedy..for unentered vassals whose superiors are themselves uninfeft, and therefore cannot effectually enter them. |
▪ II. † tinsel, n.2 Obs.
[Known from late 15th c.; f. tine v.1, OE. t{yacu}n-an to enclose, fence, hedge, with Norse suffix -sl, prob. taken over from north. dial. gar-sell, garsil (= ON. *gerðsl), meaning the same thing.]
Brushwood for hedging or fencing.
| 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 254, ij. lodes of tynsell' from þe Copy. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. vi. 13 For woods..how enterlaced, as Timber with Tinsell, Coppice, or vnderwood. 1620 in N. & Q. 1st Ser. (1851) III. 478 A few underwoods..of hasell, alders, withie and thornes..which the tenants doe take and use for Tinsel as need requires. 1637 in Chesh. Gloss. (1885) s.v., To take sufficient trouse and tynsel..for the fencing in and repairing of the hedges. 1793–1813 Rep. Agric., Derby 45 (E.D.S.) Having stone provided in the quay, and tinsel crop for fencing. |
▪ III. tinsel, n.3 and a.
(ˈtɪns(ə)l)
Forms: α. 6– tinsel; also 6 tynsel(le, -sil(l, -syll, tincel, tincle, tensell, 6–7 tyn-, tinsell, -sill, 7–8 -sil. β. 6 tylsent, tilsent. γ. 6 tynsyn, tensyn, -sen, tinsin, 7 tynsin. See also tinsey.
[The etymology, though certain in its main fact, presents difficulties of detail, owing chiefly to the want of early OF. examples. Evidently tincel, tinsel, arose out of OF. estincelle, mod.F. étincelle ‘a sparke or sparkle of fire, a flash’, Cotgr. (:—pop.L. *stincilla for scintilla spark), and OF. estincelé, mod.F. étincelé ‘sparkled, sparked, also powdered or set with sparkles’, pa. pple. of OF. estinceler ‘to sparke, to sparkle as fire; to twinkle as a starre or Dyamond; to set thicke with sparkles’ (:—pop.L. *stincillāre for scintillāre to sparkle, glitter). In 14–15th c. Fr., the s of es- had long been mute, and the pronunciation was actually as in mod.Fr. étincelle, -elé; of this the initial e disappeared (app. in Anglo-F. or Eng.) by aphesis, giving tincel(le. Our earliest examples show the word used attrib. or as adj. in tinselle satin, app. representing a Fr. satin étincelé (with -e mute in Eng., as in some other words), or else the Eng. ‘tinselled satin’ (see tinselled) with d lost between l and s. Thence sense 2, tinsel alone = tinsel satin, tinsel cloth, etc. Sense 3, which is later, may represent the Fr. n. étincelle. Tilsent and tinsin, early popular perversions, scarcely survived the 16th c.; they also were at first attrib. in tylsent satin, tynsyn satten.]
1. adj. passing into n. used attrib. Of satin, etc.: Made to sparkle or glitter by the interweaving of gold or silver thread, by brocading with such thread, or by overlaying with a thin coating of gold or silver.
| α 1502 Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 9 Blake tynselle saten of the riche making. 1537 in Reliquary Jan. (1893) 37 A nother Tynsell Satten with a Crowne ouer the breste of the seid lorde Mounte Egles Armes. 1552 Huloet, Bawdkyn or Tynsel clothe. |
| β 1510–12 Wardr. Acc. 2–3 Hen. VIII 52/2 (in N. & Q. 8th Ser. I. 129) Tylsent satin. 1547 in Kempe Losely MSS. (1836) 67 Twoo baces of clothe of golde reysed w{supt}{suph} red sylke, tylsent satten. Twoo baces of clothe of golde, blewe tilsent crymsin and purple vellett in clocks. |
| γ 1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII, c. 14 Clothe of Golde or cloth of Sylver or tynsyn Satten. 1530 Palsgr. 281/2 Tynsyn satten, satyn broché. 1531 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 41 Small schredes of tensyn satten. 1552 in Dillon Calais & Pale (1892) 97 One Vestimente of reed Tensen satten without albe. 1603 Ceremonies Coronat. Jas. I (1685) 11 The Dean..arrayeth the King..with the Tynsin Hose. |
† 2. A kind of cloth or tissue; tinselled cloth; a rich material of silk or wool interwoven with gold or silver thread (cf. baudekin); sometimes apparently, a thin net or gauze thus made, or ornamented with thin plates of metal; later, applied to a cheap imitation in which copper thread was used to obtain the sparkling effect. Obs.
| α 1526 in Inv. Goods Dk. Richmond in Camden Misc. (1855) 18 A Testour, panyd with clothe of golde, grene tynsell, and crymsen velwet. 1529 N.C. Wills (Surtees 1908) 93 My bedde of grene tynsill and white satteyne embrotherid with blue velvit. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 3 Richely appareled in Tissues, clothe of Golde, of Siluer, Tynsels and Veluettes Embroudered. 1552 Inv. Ch. Surrey (1869) 18 A sute of vestimentes of white tynsell. 1552 Huloet, Tynsell or bawdkyn cloth, intertextus. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 47 Euery place was hanged with cloth of gold, cloth of siluer, tinsell, arrace, tapestrie. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. ix, The fourth, in watchet tinsell, is the kind and truly benefique Evcolos. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1203 The Embassador and 16 of his companie, received each of them a robe of tinsell. 1611 Cotgr., Brocatel, tinsell; or thin cloth of gold, or siluer. 1639 Mayne City Match Ep. Ded., Masquers, who spangle, and glitter for the time, but tis through a tinsell. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) III. 3 In that more subtill air of yours tinsell sometimes passes for tissue. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Tincel..signifies with us a stuff or cloth made partly of silk, and partly of copper; so called, because it glisters or sparkles like stars or fire. Hence 1721 Bailey, Tinsel, a glittering Stuff made of Silk and Copper. 1755 Johnson, Tinsel, a kind of shining cloth. |
| β 1547 Tilsent [see 1 β]. c 1547 in H. Ainsworth Constable Tower i. v. (1861) I. 71 [The Earl of Surrey..appeared in a doublet of black] tylsent [welted with cloth of silver]. |
| γ 1523 in Archæologia XXXVIII. 363 A sparver payned with cremesyn tynsyn, and blake velvet. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 75 b, Clothe of Golde, Clothe of Siluer, Veluettes, Tinsins, Sattins embroudered. |
3. Very thin plates or sheets, spangles, strips, or threads, originally of gold or silver, later of copper, brass, or some gold- or silver-coloured alloy, used chiefly for ornament; now esp. for cheap and showy ornamentation, gaudy stage costumes, anglers' flies, and the like: see also quot. 1903.
| 1593 G. Fletcher Licia (1876) 28 As twinckling starres, the tinsell of the night. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 49 As day-light [is] beyond candle-light, or tinsell or leafe-gold aboue arsedine. 1732 Gray in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 228 A Piece of Sheet-Brass, commonly called Tinsel. 1782 V. Knox Ess. I. viii. 38 The character of a man of integrity and benevolence is far more desirable than that of a man of pleasure or of fashion. The one is like solid gold, the other like tinsel. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas iv. viii. ¶6 Those who are behind the scenes are not to be dazzled by the tinsel of the property-man. 1839 G. Bird Nat. Phil. 211 These gentlemen fixed one end of a cord covered with tinsel..to the cap of an electrometer, and tying the other to an arrow, they projected it..into the air. 1859 Lang Wand. India 66 Beside him his..bride, dressed in garments of red silk, trimmed with yellow and gold tinsel. 1867 F. Francis Angling x. (1880) 343 Silver tinsel and twist. 1903 Electr. World & Engin. 29 Aug. 341 (Cent. Suppl.) The stranded conductors are universally made of very fine copper or copper bronze wire, or what is technically called tinsel. |
4. fig. Anything showy or attractive with little or no intrinsic worth; something that gives a deceptively fine or glittering appearance.
| 1660 Jer. Taylor Rule of Consc. i. iv. rule x. §3 There is more gold now than before, but it is..so hidden in heaps of tinsel, that when men are best pleased, now adays they are most commonly cozened. 1747 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. iii. 14 If Miss Clary were taken with his tinsel. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 147 ¶7 That poverty of ideas which had been hitherto concealed under the tinsel of politeness. 1825 Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 105 Chaste eloquence, disfigured by no gaudy tinsel of rhetoric or declamation. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola vi, An age worse than that of iron—the age of tinsel and gossamer. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as tinsel-foil, tinsel-lace, tinsel-maker; tinsel-clad, tinsel-covered, tinsel-paned, tinsel-slippered adjs.; similative, as tinsel-pink, tinsel-violet; tinsel-embroidery, see quot. 1882.
| 1575 Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) II. 159 One dublite of crimsine satten and one tynsell paned. 1634 Milton Comus 877 Thetis tinsel-slipper'd feet. 1840 Hood Up the Rhine 207 Waxen tapers, Smartened with tinsel-foil and tinted papers. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Tinsel lace-maker, a maker of imitation gold or silver lace. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 495/1 Tinsel Embroidery. This is worked upon net, tulle, and thin muslin materials, and is an imitation of the Turkish Embroideries with gold thread upon crepe. 1897 Daily News 24 Feb. 5/2 Naked or tinsel-clad savages. 1906 Daily Chron. 27 Jan. 3/2 Description of a tinsel-maker in Delhi. 1920 E. Sitwell Wooden Pegasus 49 As I, a puppet tinsel-pink, Leap on my springs. 1956 D. Barnham One Man's Window vi. 67 The hills are tinsel-violet with distance, encrusted with the Valetta buildings and almost encircled by the blue waters of Grand Harbour. |
6. a. attrib. passing into adj. † Glittering, splendid (obs.); chiefly in disparagement: Of deceptively brilliant or valuable appearance; showy with little real worth; cheaply gaudy, tawdry.
| 1595 Polimanteia (1881) 39 Then should not the muses in their tinsell habit be so basely handled. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vii. xxvi, Upon his arm a tinsell scarf he wore,..spangled fair. 1635 Quarles Embl. ii. v, False world thou ly'st. Thy tinsill boosome seems a Mint Of new⁓coynd treasure. 1663 J. Spencer Prodigies Pref., All the tinsil-miracles among the Papists most fatally wound Religion. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 36 Bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights. 1680 Burnet Rochester (1692) 175 Neither their tinsel wit, nor superficial learning will hold them up then. a 1704 T. Brown tr. æneas Sylvius Wks. 1709 III. ii. 63 A Good of no Value, a mere tinsel Bauble. 1733 Berkeley Th. Vision §3 A certain way of writing, whether good or bad, tinsel or sterling, sense or nonsense. 1769 Junius Lett. xxi. (1770) 132 You assure me, that my logic is puerile and tinsel. 1783 Blair Lect. Rhet., etc. xviii. I. 384 Nothing can be more contemptible than that tinsel splendor of Language, which some writers..affect. 1844 Keble Lyra Innoc. ix. xiv. (1846) 299 The ears that hear its murmuring, crave No tinsel melodies of earth. |
b. Special Comb.: Tinseltown, a nickname for Hollywood; also transf., the supposedly glittering world of Hollywood cinema; the Hollywood ‘myth’.
| 1975 Bookseller 16 Aug. 1305/1 The tinseltown stuff when Wodehouse won the applause of the theatre-going fans. 1984 Times 5 Mar. 8/7 When a filmmaker starts cherishing the natural roar of traffic on the soundtrack..you know she believes in Tinseltown. |
▪ IV. † ˈtinsel, v.1 Sc. Obs. rare.
[f. tinsel n.1]
trans. To subject to loss; to impoverish, to endamage; to punish by a fine, to mulct.
| 1475 Aberdeen Regr. (1844) I. 34 He is sa tensalit in gudis, that he is nocht of povar to pay certane dettis and soumes of money awing be him. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 114 He that swa is essonzied may be tinselled and skaithed. |
▪ V. ˈtinsel, v.2
[f. tinsel n.3]
1. trans. To make glittering with gold or silver (or imitations thereof) interwoven, brocaded, or laid on. Also fig. b. To embellish (pictures, letters, etc.) with gold leaf; ‘to embellish (ceramic ware) with metallic effects’ (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909). Hence ˈtinselling vbl. n.
| 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. E iv, Hir daintie lims tinsill hir silke soft sheets, Hir rose-crownd cheekes eclipse my dazeled sight. 1611 Cotgr., Pourfiler d'or, to purfle, tinsell, or ouercast with gold thread, &c. Ibid., Pourfileure,..purfling;..baudkin-worke; tinselling. 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Tinselling, a border of silver. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour, Answ. Corr. xvii, I want to do something in the evening on my own account (tinselling pictures, for instance). |
2. To give a speciously attractive or showy appearance to; to cover the defects of with or as with tinsel.
| 1748 Warburton Alliance betw. Ch. & St. i. v. (ed. 3) 83 The Gloom of Equivocation, which spreads itself thro' the formal Chapters of the one; and the Glare of puerile Declamation, that tinsels over the trite Essays of the other. 17.. ― Unpubl. Papers (1841) 449 False honour may thus tinsel over the gaudy slaves of an absolute master. a 1774 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 265 The hopes that tinsel the gay and busy hours of life. |