Tyn

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic or dialect verb meaning to lose something or to suffer its loss, a variant of the Scots and Northern English form tine
2. A dialect word meaning to lose a thing, once used in northern England and Scotland as an older form of the verb tine
3. To be deprived of something through loss, an old regional verb recorded in Scottish and northern English usage

Etymology: In Middle English, "tynen" meant to lose something, and it is the source of the Scots and northern English verb now usually spelled "tyne." Its ancestor, the Old English "tēonian," meant to harm or vex, so losing something was once understood as a kind of injury done to you. The verb is still common in the phrase "to tyne and to tyne" in older Scottish texts, where "tyne" is used for losing something and having it gone for good. The spelling "tyn" appears as a variant in some older and regional sources, likely reflecting the same verb. Its close relative, "tine," a verb meaning to enclose or shut in, comes from a different Old English root, "tynan," and is only likely to be confused with it in spelling. The river Tyne in northeast England has an older, unrelated name.