tinker

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

• noun A traveling mender of metal household utensils.
• noun Chiefly British A member of any of various traditionally itinerant groups of people living especially in Scotland and Ireland; a traveler.
• noun One who enjoys experimenting with and repairing machine parts.
• noun A clumsy repairer or worker; a meddler.
• intransitive verb To work as a tinker.
• intransitive verb To make unskilled or experimental efforts at repair; fiddle.
• intransitive verb To mend as a tinker.
• intransitive verb To manipulate unskillfully or experimentally.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To repair or put to rights, as a piece of metal-work.
• To repair or put into shape rudely, temporarily, or as an unskilled workman: used in allusion to the imperfect and makeshift character of ordinary work in metals: often with up, to patch up.
• To do the work of a tinker upon metal or the like.
• To work generally in an experimental or botchy way; occupy one's self with a thing carelessly or in a meddlesome way: as, to tinker with the tariff.
• noun A mender of household utensils of tin, brass, copper, and iron; one who goes from place to place with tools and appliances for mending kettles, pans, etc.
• noun The act of mending, especially metal-work; the doing of the work of a tinker.
• noun A botcher; a bungler; an unskilful or clumsy worker; one who makes bungling attempts at making or mending something; also, a “jack of all trades,” not necessarily unskilful.
• noun An awkward or unskilful effort to do something; a tinkering attempt; a botch; a bungle.
• noun In ordnance, a small mortar fixed on a stake, and fired by a trigger and lanyard.
• noun A small mackerel, or one about two years old; also, the chub-mackerel. See tinker mackerel, under mackerel.
• noun The silversides, a fish. See cut under silver-sides.
• noun A stickleback, specifically the tenspined, Gasterosteus (or Pygosteus) pungitius.
• noun The skate.
• noun The razor-billed auk, Alca or Utamania torda. See cut under razorbill.
• noun A kind of seal. [Newfoundland.] A guillemot. Also tinkershire.
• noun A playfully abusive epithet for a child.

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

• intransitive verb To busy one's self in mending old kettles, pans, etc.; to play the tinker; to be occupied with small mechanical works.
• transitive verb To mend or solder, as metal wares; hence, more generally, to mend.
• noun A mender of brass kettles, pans, and other metal ware.
• noun One skilled in a variety of small mechanical work.
• noun (Ordnance) A small mortar on the end of a staff.
• noun Prov. Eng., Prov. Eng. A young mackerel about two years old.
• noun Prov. Eng., Prov. Eng. The chub mackerel.
• noun Prov. Eng., Prov. Eng. The silversides.
• noun Prov. Eng. A skate.
• noun (Zoöl.) The razor-billed auk.

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

• noun an itinerant tinsmith and mender of household utensils made of tin
• noun dated, offensive A member of the travelling community. A gypsy.
• noun usually with "little" A mischievous person, especially a playful, impish youngster.
• noun Someone who repairs, or attempts repair on anything mechanical (tinkers) or invents.
• noun The act of repair or invention.
• verb to fiddle with something in an attempt to fix, mend or improve it, especially in an experimental or unskilled manner
• verb to work as a tinker

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb work as a tinker or tinkerer
• verb do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly
• noun small mackerel found nearly worldwide
• noun a person who enjoys fixing and experimenting with machines and their parts
• verb try to fix or mend
• noun 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