Tin"sel , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tinseled (?) or Tinselled; p. pr. &
vb. n. Tinseling or
Tinselling.] To adorn with tinsel; to deck out with
cheap but showy ornaments; to make gaudy.
She, tinseled o'er in robes of varying hues.
Pope.
Tin"sel , a. Showy to excess; gaudy; specious; superficial. "Tinsel trappings."
Milton.
Tin"sel (?), n. [F. étincelle a spark, OF. estincelle, L. scintilla. Cf. Scintillate, Stencil.] 1. A shining material used for ornamental purposes; especially, a very thin, gauzelike cloth with much gold or
silver woven into it; also,
very thin metal overlaid with a thin coating of gold or silver, brass foil, or the like. Who
can discern the tinsel from the gold? Dryden.
2. Something shining and gaudy; something
superficially shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay
than valuable.
O happy peasant! O unhappy bard!
His the mere
tinsel, hers the rich reward. Cowper.
Quotes From Classical Literature on 'tinsel'You can hear pronunciation of the quotes if you click on  . The sound files tend to be pretty big.
 Piled their lean ponies, with the jackdaw' s greed
For vacant glitter. It were scarce a foil
To all this tinsel that one feathered reed
Bore on its barb two scalps that freshly bleed!
IV
They brought with them, alas! a wounded foe,
to whether fish can distinguish colours was unknown to our
ancestors. I am inclined to believe that, for salmon, size,
and perhaps shade, light or dark, with more or less of tinsel ,
are the only important points. Izaak stumbled on the idea of
Mr. Stewart ( author of The Practical Angler) saying, ' for the
generality, three or four flies, neat, and rightly made, and
not too big, serve for a trout in most rivers, all the
summer.' Our ancestors, though they did not fish with the dry
There is a great variety of this insect in Ceylon, from the large
black species, the size of the hornet down to the minute
tinsel - green fly, no bigger than a gnat; but every one of these
different species wages perpetual war against the arch enemy of
flies.
In very dry weather in some districts, when most pools and
water-holes are dried up, a pail of water thrown upon the ground
their respects to their " Great Father," the President. Their
costumes were a mingling of the picturesque with the grotesque; of
tawdriness with magnificence; of artificial tinsel and glitter with
the regal spoils of the chase; of childlike vanity with barbaric
pride. Yet before these the glittering orders and ribbons of the
diplomats became dull and meaningless, the uniforms of the officers
mere servile livery. Their painted, immobile faces and plumed
heads towered with grave dignity above the meaner crowd; their
Yes, even princes must die, glorious and lofty as they are, proudly as
they stand over their trembling subjects! Even to them comes the dark
hour in which all the borrowed and artistically- combined tinsel of
their lives falls from them; a dark hour, in which they tremble and
repent, and pray to God for what they seldom granted to their fellow-
men-- mercy! Mercy for those false tales which they have imposed upon
the people, for those false tales of the higher endowments of princes,
of inherited wisdom which raises them above the rest of mankind-- mercy
detestable in matter and manner. The narrations, the reflections,
the jokes, the lamentations, are all the very worst of their
respective kinds, at once trite and affected, threadbare tinsel
from the Rag Fairs and Monmouth Streets of literature. A foolish
schoolboy might write such a piece, and, after he had written it,
think it much finer than the incomparable introduction of the
Decameron. But that a shrewd statesman, whose earliest works are
characterised by manliness of thought and language, should, at
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