Meaning of Tinsel | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A shining fabric used for ornamental purposes.
   obsolete, uncountable, usually
2. A silk or wool fabric with gold or silver thread woven into it; brocade.
   obsolete, uncountable, usually
3. Damage, detriment; loss.
   Scotland, obsolete, transitive, uncountable
4. A very thin, gauzelike cloth with gold or silver (or, later, copper) thread woven into it, or overlaid with thin metal plates.
   obsolete, uncountable, usually
5. Deprivation; forfeiture.
   Scotland, archaic, transitive, uncountable
6. 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.
   broadly, uncountable, usually
7. Anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable.
   broadly, figuratively, uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

“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, […]”

“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; […]”

“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.”

“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⟳.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“[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⟳.”

CEFR level