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. 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). 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. sb. 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 sb. 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. 1510–2. 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 wth 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-colored 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, -lace, -maker; tinsel-clad, -covered, -paned, -slippered adjs.; 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.
6. 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, trans. 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.
