do exactly what it says on the tin
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Means what it claims, does what is expected
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
đúng như những gì nó tuyên bố, làm những gì được mong đợi
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: follows the description on a product label
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The new vacuum cleaner does exactly what it says on the tin
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “do exactly what it says on the tin” mean?
Means what it claims, does what is expected Literally: follows the description on a product label
Is “do exactly what it says on the tin” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.