splint
/splɪnt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.66 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A dental device applied consequent to undergoing orthodontia.
noun
A device to immobilize a body part.
noun
A segment of armour consisting of a narrow overlapping plate.
noun
Synonym of splent coal.
noun
A bone found on either side of a horse's cannon bone; the second or fourth metacarpal (forelimb) or metatarsal (hindlimb) bone.
noun
A disease affecting the splint bones, as a callosity or hard excrescence.
Example Sentences
- "[...] I saw in the white men's ward that little chap tossing on his back, with his arm in splints, and quite light-headed."
- "The fore-part of his thighs, where the folds of his mantle permitted them to be seen, were also covered with linked mail; the knees and feet were defended by splints, or thin plates of steel, ingeniously jointed upon each other; and mail hose, reaching from the ancle to the knee, effectually protected the legs, and completed the rider's defensive armour."
Etymology
From Middle English splint, splent, splente, from Middle Low German splinte, splente or Middle Dutch splint, splinte. Cognate with Old High German splinza (“bar, bolt, latch”). All ultimately from Proto-Germanic *splintǭ, *splintō (“piece of wood, splinter”), from Proto-Germanic *splint-, *splind- (“to split”), from a nasalized form of *splītaną (“to split”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley- (“to split, splice”).