tinsel
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɪns(ə)l/
ipa: /ˈtɪnsəl/
rhymes: -ɪnsəl
Forms: form: tinsels
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English tinsel (“cloth containing gold or silver thread”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman tincel, tincelle, tencele, and then:
* from Old French estincelle, estencele (“a spark”) (modern French étincelle), from Vulgar Latin *stincilla, a metathesis of Latin scintilla (“a glimmer; a spark”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“to shimmer, shine”); and
* from Old French estincelé, the past participle of estinceler, estenceler (“to produce sparks”) (modern French étinceler (“to sparkle, twinkle; (archaic) to produce sparks”)), from Vulgar Latin *stincillāre, a metathesis of Latin scintillāre, the present active infinitive of scintillō (“to scintillate, sparkle”), from scintilla (“a glimmer; a spark”) (see above) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).
The English word is a doublet of scintilla, scintillate, and stencil.
The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun; while the verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: Firſt, the hethermoſt, in the changeable blew, and greene robe, is the commendably-faſhioned gallant, Evcosmos; […] The fourth, in watchet tinſell, is the kind, and truly benefique, Evcolos.
ref: 1600 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Cynthias Reuels, or The Fountayne of Selfe-Loue. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act V, scene ix, page 260:
glosses: A shining fabric used for ornamental purposes.
A silk or wool fabric with gold or silver thread woven into it; brocade.
synonyms: baldacchin
examples: text: I know in that more ſubtil Air of yours Tinſel ſometimes paſſes for Tiſſue, Venice Beads for Pearl, and Demicaſters for Bevers; But I know you have ſo diſcerning a Judgment, that you will not ſuffer your ſelf to be ſo cheated, […]
ref: 1646 March 2 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “II. To Mr. En. P. at Paris.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 284:
glosses: A shining fabric used for ornamental purposes.
A very thin, gauzelike cloth with gold or silver (or, later, copper) thread woven into it, or overlaid with thin metal plates.
examples: text: O! it is divine and moſt admirable, and ſo farre beyond all that ever he publiſhed heretofore, as day-light beyond candle-light, or tinſell or leafe-gold above arſedine; […]
ref: 1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], →OCLC, page 44:
text: A tawdry scarf of yellow silk, trimmed with tinsel and spangles, which had seen as hard service, and boasted as honourable a transmission, was next flung over one shoulder, and fell across her person in the manner of a shoulder-belt or baldrick.
ref: 1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 153:
text: He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him not so much of the aerial photographs of today but rather of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword: The Turk Street Mile”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 11:
glosses: A thin, shiny foil for ornamental purposes which is of a material made of metal or resembling metal; especially, narrow glittering strips of such a material, often strung on to thread, and traditionally at Christmastime draped on Christmas trees, hung from balustrades or ceilings, or wrapped around objects as a decoration.
examples: text: Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold, / And all her ſteed with tinſell trappings ſhone, / Which fledd ſo faſt, that nothing mote him hold, / And ſcarſe them leaſure gaue, her paſſing to behold.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 15, page 395:
text: Yet ſcatter'd here and there I ſome behold, / Who can diſcern the Tinſel from the Gold: […]
ref: 1675, John Dryden, “Epilogue”, in Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC:
text: O happy peaſant! O unhappy bard! / His the mere tinſel, her's the rich reward; / He prais'd perhaps for ages yet to come, / She never heard of half a mile from home; / He loſt in errors his vain heart prefers, / She ſafe in the ſimplicity of hers.
ref: 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 90:
text: [T]hey have been the delusive prologue to an age worse than that of iron—the age of tinsel and gossamer, in which no thought has substance enough to be moulded into consistent and lasting form.
ref: 1862 July – 1863 August, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Dawning Hopes”, in Romola. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1863, →OCLC, book I, page 103:
glosses: Anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable.
Derived terms: tinselly
tinselry
tinsel print
Tinseltown
Related terms: trimmings
trim up