Forms: α. 1 tyndre, tyndir, 1–7 tynder, 5 -yr, 3– tinder (7 -ar). β. 3–7 (9 dial.) tunder, 4 tonder, tondre, 4–5 tundyr, 5 Sc. toundire. γ. 3–4, 6 tendre, 5 tendern, tendere. [OE. tynder ? m., and tyndre wk. fem. (?:-*tundrio-, *tundriôn-), from OTeut. *tund- weak grade of *tind- to kindle: see TIND v. Cognate forms (varying in suffix and gender) are MLG., LG. tunder, Du. tonder, ON. tundr (Sw. tunder, Da. tønder), OHG. zuntara fem. (MHG. zunder m. and n., Ger. zunder m.). ME and mod.Eng. tinder regularly represent OE. tynder; ME. tunder (toundir, tonder), also mod. dial. (Linc.), may be from ON. tundr. The 13–16th-c. forms tendere, -dre, -der (implied for 13th c. in TINDER v.), were prob. assimilated to the α-type of TIND v.]
Any dry inflammable substance that readily takes fire from a spark and burns or smolders; esp. that prepared from partially charred linen and from species of Polyporus or corkwood fungus (AGARIC 1), formerly in common use to catch the spark struck from a flint with a steel, as the means of kindling a fire or ‘striking’ a light. German linder: see AMADOU.
α. a. 700. Epinal Gloss. (O.E.T.), 562. Isca, tyndirin [a. 800 Erfurt tyndrin]. Ibid., 685. Naphtha, genus fomenti, id est tyndir.
a. 800. Leiden Gloss., 179. Isica, tyndri.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 149/30. Fomes, ʓeswælud spoon, uel tynder.
a. 1050. Liber Scintill., 210. Na elleshwar ʓewilnunge tyndran onælþ.
c. 1205. Lay., 29267. Þa … he … lette þe cureles ut draȝen & tinder nom And lette i þan scalen don.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., X. viii. (1495), 379. Of a lytill sperkyll in an hepe of towe or of tyndyr cometh sodaynly a grete fyre.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 23. In spunck or tinder thee quick fyre he kindly receaued.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., I. i.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1679), 27. Nor may we … omit to mention the … fungus’s to make Tinder.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, III. 57. The spark in Tinder cherisht, toucht with Metch In Sulphur dip’t, kindles with quick dispatch The Torch.
1773. Cook, Voy. round World, I. vii. (1777), I. 113. In one there was the stone they strike fire with, and tinder made of bark.
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 90. A machine for setting fire to tinder of the agaric by the compression of air has been for some time in use.
1837. Howitt, Rur. Life, II. iii. (1862), 115. He strikes a light with his tinder, for lucifers he never saw.
1867. Baker, Nile Tribut., xv. (1872), 263. The grass was as inflammable as tinder.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., VIII. 114/2. The internal spongy portion of several species of Polyporus, soaked in a solution of nitre, forms tinder.
β. c. 1220. Bestiary, 535. of ston mid stel in ðe tunder Wel to brennen one ðis wunder.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 7925. Hyt fareþ wyþ hem as fyre and tundyr [rhyme wundyr].
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xlix. (Tecla), 72. Wod dry as toundire.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVII. 245. Bot þow haue towe to take it with tondre [v.r. tunder; 1393, C. XX. 211 tonder, tendere] or broches.
1483. Cath. Angl., 396/1. Tundyr, Incentinum,… receptaculum ignis, ignicippium.
1530. Palsgr., 283/2. Tunder to lyght a matche, fusil.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 29 b. Agarik … where of som make tunder bothe in England and Germany.
1612. Sc. Bk. Rates, in Halyburton’s Ledger (1867), 291. Boxes called fyre or tunder boxes the groce iiii li.
γ. c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 102. Þanne maist þou wiþ tendre gete fuyre of þat ston.
1393. Tendere [see quot 1377 in β].
c. 1400. R. Gloucester’s Chron., App. S. 7 (MS. δ). Þo let he nime tendern [other MSS. tynder, tunder].
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., M j. They be made of softe tendre, as of seare olde lynen cloth.
† b. transf. Fire; a spark; a tinder-box; phr. to strike (on) a tinder. Obs.
1570. Levins, Manip., 77/10. Tynder, incendium.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. i. 141. Strike on the Tinder, hoa: Giue me a Taper.
1607. Dekker & Webster, Northw. Hoe, III. Wks. 1873, III. 44. Ile goe strike a Tinder.
c. 1626. Dick of Devon., I. ii., in Bullen, O. Pl. (1883), II. 12. So from a tinder at the first kindled Grew this heartburning twixt these two great Nations.
c. fig.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., v. § 3. We habbað nu ʓiet þone mæstan dæl þære tyndran þinre hæle.
a. 1050. Liber Scintill., lxxvii. (1889), 206. Tyndre [fomentum] and ceap godes cynnes lærestre maʓenes deð on criste wunian symle.
1595. Polimanteia (1881), 61. They haue strook fire into the tinder of my soft heart.
1643. Baker, Chron., Hen. II., 73. Finding his hot spirit to be fit tinder for such fire.
1794. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Pindariana, Wks. 1812, IV. 212. Nothing to gild thy solitary tinder Save the rude flint and steel of Peter Pindar.
d. attrib. and Comb., as tinder-pouch, -purse; tinder-cloaked, -dry, -like adjs.; tinder-fungus, a fungus from which tinder is made, as tinder-polypore, Polyporus fomentarius; tinder-ore, tinder-water, see quots.
1647. Cleveland, Char. Diurn. Maker, Wks. (1677), 101. It is like over-reach of Language, when every Thin, *Tinder-cloak’d Quack must be called a Doctor.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, ii. 33. The *tinder-dry clumps of scrub.
1896. Crockett, Cleg Kelly, vi. He crossed the marshy end of Duddingstone Loch. It was tinder-dry with the drought.
1895. Funk’s Standard Dict., *Tinder-fungus, a large leathery fungus … growing on trees; the amadou of commerce.
1607. Shaks., Cor., II. i. 55. Said to be … hasty and *Tinder-like vppon to triuiall motion.
1887. Rider Haggard, Jess, xxviii. The tinderlike roof burst into a broad sheet of flame.
1868. Dana, Min., 91. Zundererz, or Bergzunderz (= *Tinder Ore) of G. Lehmann…, which is soft like tinder and dark dirty red in color,… proves to be jamesonite or feather ore mixed with red silver and arsenopyrite.
1883. R. Turner, in Gd. Words, Sept., 591/1. The common *tinder-polypore has … been found in the lake-dwelling at Lochlee.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 236. *Tinder-pouch … used by Hungarian fishermen.
1662. J. Bargrave, Pope Alex. VII. (1867), 122. We had … *tynder purses…, with flint, steel, and match, to lighten our torches and candles when they went out.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., xlvi. *Tinder-water!… Water extracted from tinder…. An universal specific for all distempers.
Hence Tindered a., burnt to tinder; Tinderish, Tinderous adjs., of the nature of tinder, tinder-like; Tinderly adv., like tinder, in a tinder-like degree.
1809. T. Cowdell, Poet. Jrnl., 40, in Nova Scotia Minstr. (1811), 47. Her tinder’d garments in my hand.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., xiv. III. 343. Harriet was tinderly tender.
1870. Dickens, Edwin Drood, ad fin. And yet there are such unexplored romantic nooks in the unlikeliest men, that even old tinderous and touchwoody P. J. T. Possibly Jabbered Thus, at some odd times, in or about seventeen-forty-seven.
1870. Daily News, 18 July. The furze is dry and tinderous.
1889. Clark Russell, Marooned (1890), 213. So damp and tinderous too was the timber. Ibid. (1890), Ocean Trag., xii. A sound as of the pressure of a light foot upon tinderish brushwood.
