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Rinky-dink

//ˈɹɪŋ.kɪ.dɪŋk// adj, noun, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of poor quality; amateurish, shoddy, small-time. US, informal

    "That rinky-dink shelf is likely to collapse if you fill it with books."

  2. 2
    Old-fashioned, tired; also, shabby, worn-out. US, informal
  3. 3
    Crooked, dishonest, underhanded. US, informal

    "When NBC licensed his reruns to the Arts & Entertainment cable network without consulting him, he was incensed. "It was a rinky-dink deal," says a source."

  4. 4
    Alternative form of rinky-tink (“tinkling and tinny”). US, alt-of, alternative, informal

    "As I child, I learned to play on that old pump organ and so had my father. This piano was very special. It had an extra floor pedal which gave the piano a rinky-dink sound like no other."

Noun
  1. 1
    A person who is contemptible or insignificant.; An amateur or someone who is underqualified. US, countable, informal, uncountable

    "The point is that SCUBA diving is not for "rinky-dinks" ; it is for well trained people only, and then only in the company of other experienced divers."

  2. 2
    A person who is contemptible or insignificant.; Someone who operates unethically; specifically, a small-time conman or crook. US, countable, informal, uncountable

    "In addition to such creeps, there is also found in various organizations an assortment of longhairs, corny antiques, arky back-numbers, moldy mossbacks, rinky-dinks, tintypes, schmoes and schmaltzes of all flavors."

  3. 3
    Something that is not up to acceptable standards; something of low quality. US, countable, informal

    "But when we start getting really into the "rinky-dinks" of this thing is when we get over here in the columns."

  4. 4
    A miscellaneous object or thing; a thingy. US, countable, informal

    "[H]e, […] had just ordered a Sennett. […] He wanted no detachable top of pleb[e]ian characteristics; he wanted two regular bodies, one for winter and one for summer. And he wanted a special color and a monogram and a whole lot of rinky-dinks that cost him money."

  5. 5
    Deceptive or underhanded rigmarole; deception, trickery; (countable) often preceded by the: an instance of this; a deception, swindle, a trick. US, archaic, informal, uncountable

    "[H]e entered the realm of educational matters […] Two years of his life were spent at this elevating game, during which time he had only eighty-two fights with fond mothers who felt that he had been either neglectful of their particular children or had ruthlessly given them the rinky-dink."

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  1. 6
    Alternative form of rinky-tink (“a tinkling, tinny style of music; honky-tonk”). US, alt-of, alternative, informal, uncountable

    "The [King] Oliver band had a new kind of beat, a real jazz beat instead of the ragtime rinky-dink."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Origin unknown; possibly a variant of rickety (“of an object: not strong or sturdy; of a person: feeble in the joints, tottering”), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.

Etymology 2

Origin unknown; possibly a variant of rickety (“of an object: not strong or sturdy; of a person: feeble in the joints, tottering”), reduplicated with a change of the initial consonant. The noun is attested earlier than the adjective.

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