Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A type of paper-thin tin plate.
  • noun Tinfoil used as a backing for mirrors.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thin plate; a tagger; tin-foil for mirrors.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Thin tin plate; also, tin foil for mirrors.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete Thin tin plate
  • noun obsolete Tin foil for mirrors.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, alteration of étain, tin, from Late Latin stannum; see stannic.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English tein, teyne; compare Icelandic teinn a twig.

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Examples

  • The essence of Whacky Br*tain is that a knife is a tool for a form of free expression that is misunderstood by the population at large and the reactionary media, and police officers merely the nasty men and women who seek to deny Br*tain’s troubled youth that avenue for the inner self.

    You Couldn’t Make It Up. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2007

  • Also called the tain proper cell metabolism and tissue health. levels in blueberries are particularly high.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows MonavieJuiceGuy 2009

  • But the Kuklos ought to train 'em better, you know; 'tain't natural not to stare when a lunatic cuts loose in public.

    THE NUMBERS 2010

  • Yet 'tain't being dead -- it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;

    literature 2007

  • Bo weevil told the farmer that "I 'tain't got ticket fare",

    Charley Patton Lyrics 2009

  • Jail house ain't no plaything, b'lieve me, 'tain't no lie

    Blind Arthur Blake lyrics 2009

  • Meanwhile, 'tain't fit night out for man nor beast.

    The time is out of joint... jhetley 2006

  • As for where you are moving-'tain't none of my bidnuss nohow!

    lull, with schrapnel Holly 2006

  • I wish I had a home I could really call my own to ask you to, but 'tain't never been so I could.

    The Passing of Sister Barsett 1996

  • But the Kuklos ought to train 'em better, you know; 'tain't natural not to stare when a lunatic cuts loose in public.

    Flashman and the angel of the lord Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1995

Comments

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  • "The sidewalks were gray and uneven, and the sky looked like a mirror without a tain, the place where everything should have been reflected but where, in the end, nothing was."

    -"Meeting with Enrique Lihn" by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Chris Andrews, in the New Yorker, Dec 22 and 29, 2008, pp 80-81

    December 22, 2008

  • Nice citation - and what a great word! It was new to me.

    December 22, 2008

  • Also teyne.

    January 12, 2016