Chiefly north. and (from c. 1400 only) Sc. 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. *týnsla, f. týna (= 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 oft 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, withouttin 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. Ibid. (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.
