tinman

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See also: tin man, Tin Man, and Tinman

English

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Pronunciation

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  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈtɪn.mæn/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Etymology 1

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From tin +‎ -man.

Noun

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tinman (plural tinmen)

  1. A maker of tinware; a tinsmith.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 11:
      He seemed to feel quite at home at the tinman's, although they were hammering and tapping away there all day, but people said that the gudewife put a dish of porridge up in the garret for him every Thursday evening; and it's no wonder that they got on well and became rich when they had a brownie in the house.
  2. A dealer in tinware.

Etymology 2

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In allusion to the character Tin Man from the Land of Oz, who lacked a heart.

Noun

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tinman (plural tinmen)

  1. An uncaring or heartless man; a man lacking, or seeming to lack, feelings, emotions, or concern for others.
  2. (genetics) A master gene in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, whose absence causes the fly to develop without a heart.
    • 2000, Carl Zimmer, “The Hidden Unity of Hearts”, in Natural History[1], volume 109, number 3, archived from the original on 7 January 2009, pages 56–61:
      Tinman belongs to a special class of genes. [...] But some genes make proteins that control other genes. Some act like master switches, triggering many different genes to work together to build a structure. Tinman is one such “master gene” for the fruit fly.