tin-pot
Preserved but no longer current.
"he plays a TIN-POT game," i.e., a low, mean, or shabby game. In the Contes d’Eutrapel, a French officer at the siege of Chatillon is ridiculously spoken of as Captain TIN-POT—Capitaine du Pot d’Etain. TIN-POT, as generally used, means worthless. As applied to billiards and kindred games, it means pretentious and inferior play.
Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “tin-pot” mean?
"he plays a TIN-POT game," i.e., a low, mean, or shabby game. In the Contes d’Eutrapel, a French officer at the siege of Chatillon is ridiculously spoken of as Captain TIN-POT—Capitaine du Pot d’Etain. TIN-POT, as generally used, means worthless. As applied to billiards and kindred games, it means pretentious and inferior play.
Is “tin-pot” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.