Mainly historical now, as the trade has died out, a tinker is a person who fixes pots and pans and wanders from place to place looking for customers or, in US English, a person skilled in many minor kinds of work, especially mechanical or manual work. It also means ‘a clumsy or unskillfull worker.’ In Scottish and Irish English, it is the standard word for…
The blade is the flat cutting part of a sharp tool or weapon like a knife or a sword and it can actually be used as a synonym for sword too. Part of any mechanism that resembles this and that is used for wiping or scraping is also a blade and, generally, any thin and flat part of something too. In botany, a blade is the leaf of a plant, especially grass or cereal plants, and in sports, the blade is the…
To spout means ‘to throw out with force, as in a stream or jet’ or ‘to shoot out with violence.’ Figuratively, if you say something in a showy and pompous and oratorical manner, you’re also spouting. As a noun, a spout is a pipe, tube, or projecting lip used to pour out or to carry liquid along. A continuous stream of…
