dint
/dɪnt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.73 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To dent.
contraction
Pronunciation spelling of didn’t.
Example Sentences
- "O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel / The dint of pity"
- "It was by dint of passing strength / That he moved the massy stone at length."
- "[D]epe wͭ dynt the ſword enforced furſt / had ranſakt through his ribs ⁊ ſwete whyte breſt at once had burſt."
- "His hands had made a dint, and hurt his maid; / Explored her limb by limb, and feared to find / So rude a gripe had left a livid mark behind."
- "[A]nd read the naked shield, […] Of every dint a sword had beaten in it, / And every scratch a lance had made upon it"
- "Much daunted with that dint, her sence was dazd […]"
Etymology
From Middle English dint, dent, dünt, from Old English dynt (“dint, blow, strike, stroke, bruise, stripe; the mark left by a blow; the sound or noise made by a blow, thud”), from Proto-Germanic *duntiz (“a blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- (“to strike, hit”). Cognate with Swedish dialectal dunt, Icelandic dyntr (“a dint”). Doublet of dent.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: dint, dynt, *duntiz, *dʰen-, dinten