? Obs. Also 5 tynky. [Goes with TINKER sb., of which, if its history could be traced farther back, it may be the source; but it may also be a back-formation from tinker.] trans. To mend, solder, rivet (rarely, to make) pots and pans, as a tinker. Hence Tinking vbl. sb.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 576/39. Crusto, to tynky. Crustator, a tynkere.
c. 1500. World & Child (1905), 179. Art thou any craftsman? Yea sir, I can bind a sieve and tink a pan.
1565. Harding, in Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 525. Tinkers and Tapsters … what should they doe there [at the General Council]? For there is no tinking, nor tipling.
1825. Jamieson, To Tink, v.a., to rivet, as including the idea of the noise made in the act of rivetting; a Gipsy word, Roxb.
[Note. L. crusto meant ‘to cover with a rind, shell, crust, embossing, plaster-work.’ It is not easy to apply this to a tinker’s work, unless perh. in the sense of ‘to cover with a plate or patch,’ or ? ‘with tin’ or ‘with solder.’ Identity of ‘tink’ = crustare, with TINK v.1 seems unthinkable.]
