Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Tin \Tin\, n. [As. tin; akin to D. tin, G. zinn, OHG. zin, Icel.
& Dan. tin, Sw. tenn; of unknown origin.]
1. (Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the
mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft white
crystalline metal, malleable at ordinary temperatures, but
brittle when heated. It is not easily oxidized in the air,
and is used chiefly to coat iron to protect it from
rusting, in the form of tin foil with mercury to form the
reflective surface of mirrors, and in solder, bronze,
speculum metal, and other alloys. Its compounds are
designated as stannous, or stannic. Symbol Sn (Stannum).
Atomic weight 117.4.
2. Thin plates of iron covered with tin; tin plate.
3. Money. [Cant] --Beaconsfield.
{Block tin} (Metal.), commercial tin, cast into blocks, and
partially refined, but containing small quantities of
various impurities, as copper, lead, iron, arsenic, etc.;
solid tin as distinguished from tin plate; -- called also
{bar tin}.
{Butter of tin}. (Old Chem.) See {Fuming liquor of Libavius},
under {Fuming}.
{Grain tin}. (Metal.) See under {Grain}.
{Salt of tin} (Dyeing), stannous chloride, especially so
called when used as a mordant.
{Stream tin}. See under {Stream}.
{Tin cry} (Chem.), the peculiar creaking noise made when a
bar of tin is bent. It is produced by the grating of the
crystal granules on each other.
{Tin foil}, tin reduced to a thin leaf.
{Tin frame} (Mining), a kind of buddle used in washing tin
ore.
{Tin liquor}, {Tin mordant} (Dyeing), stannous chloride, used
as a mordant in dyeing and calico printing.
{Tin penny}, a customary duty in England, formerly paid to
tithingmen for liberty to dig in tin mines. [Obs.]
--Bailey.
{Tin plate}, thin sheet iron coated with tin.
{Tin pyrites}. See {Stannite}.