tinker
Other forms: tinkering; tinkers; tinkered
When you tinker, you work casually or attempt to fix something, the way you might tinker with your brother's old bike or tinker with the website you're building for fun.
As a verb, tinker means to fix (or mess around with) just about anything. For example, your creative writing teacher might ask you to tinker with your most recent short story and add more specific, vivid details. As a noun, tinker refers to a person whose job involves traveling around and fixing things. It's an old-fashioned word, dating from the 13th century, when traveling tinsmith wasn't an uncommon occupation.
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do random, unplanned work or activities; spend time idlysynonyms: futz, mess around, monkey, monkey around, muck about, muck around, potter, putter
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try to fix or mend
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work as a tinker or tinkerer
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a person who enjoys fixing and experimenting with machines and their partssynonyms: tinkerertype of:experimentera person who enjoys testing innovative ideas
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formerly a person (traditionally a Gypsy) who traveled from place to place mending pots and kettles and other metal utensils as a way to earn a living
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small mackerel found nearly worldwidesynonyms: Scomber japonicus, chub mackereltype of:mackerelany of various fishes of the family Scombridae
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Vocabulary lists containing tinker
"Stop! Thief!" are the words often shouted at him, so a young orphan takes that as his name as he struggles to survive in Warsaw during World War II.
This biography recounts the work of Philo Farnsworth, the first person to transmit a television image.
Jessie learns that the 19th-century frontier village she lives in is actually a 20th-century tourist attraction — and she must venture out into the modern world to find life-saving medicine for her community.