tinman

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪn.mæn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

From tin + -man.

tinman (plural tinmen)

1. A maker of tinware; a tinsmith.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 11:

     He seemed to feel quite at home at the tinman's, although they were hammering and tapping away there all day, but people said that the gudewife put a dish of porridge up in the garret for him every Thursday evening; and it's no wonder that they got on well and became rich when they had a brownie in the house.

   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     But if there are gipsies or tinmen about we shall have to keep our eyes open after anything they can lay their hands on.

2. A dealer in tinware.

In allusion to the character Tin Man from the Land of Oz, who lacked a heart.

tinman (plural tinmen)

1. An uncaring or heartless man; a man lacking, or seeming to lack, feelings, emotions, or concern for others.
2. (genetics) A master gene in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, whose absence causes the fly to develop without a heart.
   • 2000, Carl Zimmer, “The Hidden Unity of Hearts”, in Natural History‎^[1], volume 109, number 3, archived from the original on 7 January 2009, pages 56–61:

     Tinman belongs to a special class of genes. [...] But some genes make proteins that control other genes. Some act like master switches, triggering many different genes to work together to build a structure. Tinman is one such “master gene” for the fruit fly.