tin soldier
2
3.4
- noun
- /tɪn ˈsoʊldʒər/
:
soldadito de plomo
- Inside, her nephew Royce sprawled upon the floor, playing with tin soldiers and creating various battle scenarios.
- little tin soldier
Examples
-
In James's box, there was a whole regiment of tin soldiers.
Fiction book (1990) -
A second door opened and he saw all the toys he had ever owned: the tin soldiers his father had bought him; the jumping clown his mother had brought back from the fair at Lublin; the whistles and harmonicas; the teddy bear Grandfather had given him one Purim; and the wooden horse that was the gift of Grandmother.
Fiction book (1999) -
Bring me the tin soldiers.
-
If even one tin soldier is left standing, we have lost.
-
Some days he would let her play with his collection of tin soldiers, of which he had boxes and boxes.
Fiction book (1997) -
Poor little tin soldier.
-
He remained in his bed and requested that Celestine arrange across the counterpane many of his little tin soldiers, suggesting to her the appropriate formations for advance and retreat.
Fiction book (1997) -
The seven-year-old waged imaginary wars against the helpless tin soldier, shouting in triumph when one soldier defeated an enemy.
-
Some days he would let her play with his collection of tin soldiers, which he cherished from his own childhood.
Synonyms
5
1.8
A small model of a soldier that children play with
A small toy man made of thin metal, often a soldier
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase denotes a soldier made of tin and its meaning is a straightforward composition of 'tin' (the metal) + 'soldier' (the military figure). This material+object pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows regular English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Tin soldier comes from the small toy soldiers made of tin, often cast and hand-painted for children. Because they were literally tiny 'soldiers' of metal used for play, the name now simply means a small 'toy' or collectible soldier.