[f. TINKER v. + -ING1.] The work of a tinker; the action of TINKER v. (in lit. and fig. senses).
1592. R. D., Hypnerotomachia, 48 b. What a stately porche with his stone of Phenicea with all the tinkering and pullishing about it.
1753. H. Walpole, Lett. (1846), II. 478. I left the tinkering of the bill.
1857. Borrow, Romany Rye (1905), II. App. v. 328. He [the Gipsy] took to tinkering and smithery, because no better employments were at his command.
1885. Athenæum, 14 Feb., 221. A very good [picture] … free from any after-meddling and tinkering.
attrib. 1813. Examiner, 1 Feb., 72/1. The terrible tinkering work there must be.
1841. Hood, Tale of Trumpet, xxxviii. Or Trudge and his ass at a tinkering job.
