Also 7 tincy, 8–9 tinsy. A popular corruption of TINSEL sb.3
1685. Lond. Gaz., No. 2001/4. A Groce of Gimp Lace mixt with Tincy.
1707. E. Ward, Hud. Rediv., II. III. 10. Built for imaginary Princes To strut in Buskins and in Tinseys.
1773. Smollett, Humph. Cl., 15 May. I’ve shown him how little I minded his tinsy and his long tail.
1832. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1856, III. 301. Ye think the peacock’s harl and the tinsy hae slipped frae your jaws.
1889. Stoddart, Angling Songs, 254. Awa’ wi’ yer tinsey sae braw!
b. attrib. or adj.; also in Comb.
1699. E. Ward, Lond. Spy, X. (1709), 237. The Quality of the Fair, strutting round their Balconies in their Tinsey Robes.
1704. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1718), 234. They clap a Saddle upon ’em, cover’d with a sort of Tinsey Stuff.
1721. Ramsay, Morning Interview, 162. His head reclin’d upon a tinsy roll.
1753. Smollett, Ct. Fathom (1784), 81/1. You come over like a walking atomy, with a rat’s tail at your wig, and a tinsey jacket.
1828. Blackw. Mag., Sept., 298/1 [Angling]. The yellow-bodied, tinsey-tailed, black-half-heckle.
