Definition of "tinsel"

(obsolete) A shining fabric used for ornamental purposes.

1. A silk or wool fabric with gold or silver thread woven into it; brocade.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     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, Act V, scene ix, page 260

2. A very thin, gauzelike cloth with gold or silver (or, later, copper) thread woven into it, or overlaid with thin metal plates.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, […]

     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, section VI, page 284

(by extension)

1. 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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; […]

     1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), page 44

   • 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.

     1818 July 25, Jedadiah 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, page 153

   • 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.

     1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword: The Turk Street Mile”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, page 11

2. (figuratively) Anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 15, page 395

   • Yet ſcatter'd here and there I ſome behold, / Who can diſcern the Tinſel from the Gold: […]

     1675, John Dryden, “Epilogue”, in Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676

   • 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.

     1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 90

   • [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.

     1862 July – 1863 August, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Dawning Hopes”, in Romola. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1863, book I, page 103

(obsolete) Of fabric: ornamented by being woven with gold or silver thread, or overlaid with thin metal plates; brocaded.  quotations

(by extension)

1. (obsolete) Glittering.  quotations

   Quotations

   • Baſes and tinſel Trappings, gorgious Knights / At Jouſt and Touneament; then marſhal'd Feaſt / Serv'd up in Hall with Sewers, and Seneſhals; […]

     1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 36–37

2. (figuratively) Apparently beautiful and costly but having little value; superficially attractive; gaudy, showy, tawdry.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Went to that magnificent Temple of Thalia, the New Olympic, and saw the bewitchingest Pauline, in the person of Winifred Emery, that ever I saw in the shammiest, stagiest, tawdriest, tinsellest, transparentest, most diaphanously theatrical comedy I ever saw in the absolute period of my Thespian existence.A nonce use of the superlative form of tinsel.

     1890 December 24, “Judy’s Diary”, in Judy: The London Serio-comic Journal, volume 46, London: [s.n.], page 306, column 2

   • Sensing plenty of room for such displays of conspicuous consumption, no less than three other knockoffs—The Good Life ("the most luxurious half-hour on television"), The Robb Report (a spinoff of the ultra high-end auto magazine), and Eye on Hollywood (the tinselest side of Tinseltown)—were soon on the air, each also a tour de force of hedonism and exhibition.A nonce use of the superlative form of tinsel.

     2009, Larry Samuel, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: 1980–1994”, in Rich: The Rise and Fall of American Wealth Culture, New York, N.Y.: AMACOM, page 192

To adorn (something) with tinsel.

1. (also figuratively) To ornament (fabric, etc.) by weaving into it thread of gold, silver, or some other shiny material.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Hir daintie lims tinſill hir ſilke ſoft ſheets, / Hir roſe-crownd cheekes eclipſe my dazeled ſight, […]

     1594, Tho[mas] Nashe, “The Vnfortunate Traueller”, in The Vnfortvnate Traveller. Or, The Life of Iacke Wilton, London: […] T. Scarlet for C[uthbert] Burby, […]

   • And all the shrubs, with sparkling spangles, shew / Like morning sun-shine, tinselling the dew.The spelling has been modernized.

     1648, Robert Herrick, “[Anacreontic and Bacchanalian.] The Apparition of His Mistress Calling Him to Elisium.”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […]; republished as Henry G. Clarke, editor, Hesperides, or Works both Human and Divine, volume I, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., […], 1844, page 176

2. (by extension) To deck out (a place or something) with showy but cheap ornaments; to make gaudy.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • She, tinſel'd o'er in robes of varying hues, / With ſelf-applauſe her wild creation views, / Sees momentary monſters riſe and fall, / And with her own fools-colours gilds them all.

     1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, page 5, lines 69–72

   • […] and yokels looking up at the tinselled dancers and poor old rouged tumblers, while the light-fingered folk are operating upon their pockets behind.

     1848 June 28, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Before the Curtain”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], page vii

(figuratively) To give (something) a false or superficial attractiveness.  quotations  examples

(obsolete) Damage, detriment; loss.

(law, archaic) Deprivation; forfeiture.

(transitive, Scotland, obsolete, rare) To cause (someone) damage or loss; also, to impose a fine on (someone); to mulct.