tintype

T1I1N1T1Y4P3E1
/ˈtɪntaɪp/

noun

An early, remarkably durable form of photograph (technically a photographic negative), printed on a tin plate, then varnished.

RareScrabble 12

Meanings

nountintype (plural tintypes)

plural tintypes

  1. An early, remarkably durable form of photograph (technically a photographic negative), printed on a tin plate, then varnished.

    They'll show you tintypes of the kids more often than not, hell, they love em chavalitos.

    2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Against the Day”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 885
    2 more examples

    She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.

    1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

    There were photographs everywhere: photographs framed and unframed; photographs large and photographs small, the fresh and the faded; tintypes, kodaks, “full lengths,” “cabinets,” groups—every type of photograph; […]

    1913, Booth Tarkington, The Flirt, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 70
verbtintype (third-person singular simple present tintypes, present participle tintyping, simple past and past participle tintyped)

present singular third person tintypes · participle present tintyping · participle past tintyped · past tintyped

  1. transitiveTo produce a tintype image of.

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

tintype. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tintype

MLA

“tintype.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tintype. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tintype,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tintype.

Source: tintype on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.