1 a can, container or pail, a dish made of tin 20-.
2 in extended use any small wares dealt in by Travellers or Gypsies 19. Compare pinkies etymology: origin obscure but possibly a development from Scots pingle ‘A small, shallow, metal cooking-pan, generally with a long handle, a saucepan.’; sense 2 only recorded in Chambers Journal in the south of Scotland; sense 1 attested by Galloway and Perthshire and Argyleshire Tinkler-Gypsies and BS in TDITA; also collected by EMcC/PS note:
Canadian Paul Pope (2013) cites the form pinkie with the same meanings.