tin
tin Lexical Profile
tin Game Scores & Validity
• noun
British A sealed metal container used for preserving food.
"She opened a tin of baked beans for a quick lunch."
An open metal receptacle used for baking or storing items.
"He stored the leftover cookies in a decorative vintage tin."
A silvery-white, malleable metallic element with atomic number 50, often used for plating and in alloys such as bronze.
"Bronze was one of the earliest alloys created by smelting copper with tin."
• adjective
Made of or containing the metal tin.
"Rain pounded loudly against the tin roof of the old barn."
Lacking substance or durability; cheap or flimsy.
"He complained about the tin quality of the cheap speakers."
• verb
British To preserve food by sealing it in a metal can.
"The factory tins thousands of pounds of fresh sardines every day."
To coat or plate a surface with tin, typically to prevent corrosion.
"Before soldering the electrical wire, you need to tin the exposed tip."
Word Nuance & Usage
In British and Commonwealth English, 'tin' is standardly used to describe a sealed metal food container, whereas American English predominantly uses the word 'can'.
• Rhymes for tin
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'tin', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch 'tin' and German 'Zinn'.