stint

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /stɪnt/
• Rhymes: -ɪnt

Etymology 1

Old English styntan (“make blunt”), probably influenced in some senses by cognate Old Norse *stynta.

Noun

stint (plural stints)

1. A period of time spent doing or being something. A spell.

   He had a stint in jail.

Translations

period in jail

Finnish: jakso (fi), kausi (fi), aika (fi)

Verb

stint (third-person singular simple present stints, present participle stinting, simple past and past participle stinted)

1. (archaic, intransitive) To stop (an action); cease, desist.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iii:

     O do thy cruell wrath and spightfull wrong / At length allay, and stint thy stormy strife [...].

2. (obsolete, intransitive) To stop speaking or talking (of a subject).
   • Late C14, Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales:

     Now wol I stynten of this Arveragus, / And speken I wole of Dorigen his wyf

3. (intransitive) To be sparing or mean.

   The next party you throw, don't stint on the beer.

Translations

to stop, cease, desist

Finnish: lopettaa (fi)

to stop speaking or talking

Finnish: vaieta (fi), lopettaa (fi)

to be sparing or mean

Finnish: pihistellä (fi), pihtailla (fi), nuukailla (fi), säästää (fi) German: geizen (de)

Polish: skąpić (pl) Russian: скупиться (ru)

Etymology 2

Origin unknown.

Noun

stint (plural stints)

1. Any of several very small wading birds in the genus Calidris. Types of sandpiper, such as the dunlin or the sanderling.
2. (medicine) Common misspelling of stent.

Translations

wading bird of the genus Calidris

Finnish: sirri (fi) Romanian: fugaci (ro)

Spanish: correlimos (es) m.

Anagrams

• it'sn't
• tints
• 'tisn't