Meaning
Worth absolutely nothing, or so unimportant that it merits no concern.
Origin
A tinker was an itinerant repairer of pots and other household metalware. Tinkers had been stereotyped as habitual swearers by the early seventeenth century, and tinker-associated curses became a byword for something of negligible value in the early nineteenth century. The historically supported word is damn, with curse and cuss used as milder variants. The spelling dam inspired a later tale about a disposable wall of dough or clay used during soldering, but the lexical evidence does not support that object as the phrase's source.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Not worth a tinker's curse
- Not worth a tinker's cuss
Usage Examples
- Without the missing signature, the agreement is not worth a tinker's damn.
- He thinks the old tokens are valuable, but collectors say they are not worth a tinker's cuss.
- A guarantee from that company is not worth a tinker's curse once the shop has closed.