_stint_
Verb.
Pronunciation: stɪnt.
Third-person singular simple present: she
(he) stints.
Preterite tense, preterite
participle: stinted.
Present participle: stinting.
It is dated from
the beginning of 1200.
Etymology: from Old English styntan (= to blunt, dull), which, as it was believed
by Walter Skeat, is the causal verb of the adjective stunt (= dull).
Intransitively: 1.
Obsolete: (of an animated
being) to cease from doing something; to desist; to forbear.
2. Obsolete: (of an action,
process, etc.) to cease from continuing.
3. Obsolete: (of an animated
being) to cease from locomoting; to halt.
4. Obsolete: a. (Of a body) to cease from moving. b. (Of a fluid) to cease from flowing.
5. Obsolete: (of a portion of
land, etc.) to end; to be limited.
6. Modern use: (of a person) to stint
oneself in one’s expenses; to become frugal or parsimonious..
-)With the
preposition on, or in + noun of the thing of which one stints oneself:
She
never stinted on candles.
Sarah Micklem… Firethorn
In
Oakland a husband stinted on food
and clothing while spending a large sum on painting his house…
David Tyack – Robert Lowe… Public
schools…
Transitively: 1.
Obsolete: to cause (an
animated being) to cease from doing something.
2. Archaic: to discontinue
(one’s own action, process, etc.).
[…] they
departed and stinted not journeying till
nightfall, when they halted and ate some victual.
Richard Burton… Thousand Nights and a Night
Be
quick and stint this
talk and impertinence, for I have to go to a party at the house of some of my
intimates.
Richard Burton… Thousand Nights and a Night
3. Obsolete:
to
cause to cease (another’s action, process, etc.).
4. Obsolete:
to
cause (pain, appetite, etc.) to cease by assuagement or by satisfaction.
5. Obsolete:
to
cause (a natural action, as rain, fire, etc.) to cease.
[…] Barton
sat brooding over his stinted fire.
Elizabeth Gaskell… Mary Barton
6. Obsolete:
to
cause (a fluid, etc.) to cease from flowing.
7. Obsolete:
to
cause (an animated being, or oneself) to cease from locomoting or translocating.
8. a. To cause (an
animated being, oneself, a plant, etc.) to cease from increasing in size. b. To end (the increasing, or the growth).
Synonym: to stunt.
The
Mandrake should never be removed after it has arrived at any considerable size,
as it is hardly possible to take it up without breaking the lower fibres, which
so stints the plant, that, although it may live, it
seldom recovers its former strength.
Henry Phillips… Flora Historica
[…]
the fruit of these trees, deprived of its nourishment, and stinted in its growth, becomes yellow and dry.
The London encyclopaedia by Thomas Curtis
[…]
I cannot forbear charging my countrymen with exceeding ill husbandry in not providing
sufficiently for them all winter, by which means they starve all their young
cattle, or at least stint their growth.
Thomas Salmon… Modern history…
[…]
such trifling deficiency, […] is sufficient to diminish the quantity of milk in
ewes, and to stint the growth of lambs.
The farmer’s magazine, vol. 10
Little
argument, […] is necessary to prove that thin sowing of barley must be attended
with considerable disadvantage; for, if the early part of the season be dry,
the plants will not only be stinted in their growth, but will not
send out offsets.
Henry Stephens… The book of the
farm, vol. 2
A
tree often becomes stinted from an accumulation of moss,
which affects the functions of the bark, and renders the tree unfruitful.
Colin MacKenzie… Five thousand receipts…
[…]
young pigs are very susceptible of cold, and if exposed to it, though they may
not actually die, their growth will be so stinted as to prevent them attaining
to a large size, however fat they may be made.
Henry Stephens… The book of the farm,
vol. 2
-) With
the preposition to, to signify the
height-limit:
When
the plants attain the height of six to ten inches, they are removed and planted
in rows, about eight feet apart, and generally with alternate rows of
plantains, which shoot up in a few months, bear two or three crops of fruit,
and are cut down again at the end of the first year. They begin to yield fruit
the third year, but are not in full bearing till the fifth. If left to
themselves they would grow to the height of sixteen or eighteen feet, but they
are stinted to about eight or ten, for the facility
of gathering the fruit.
Edward Penny… Customs and society of Mexico
9. Obsolete:
to
restrict (an animated being) to an action, process, place, etc.
10. Rare: to keep or restrain
(an animated being) within the limits of a room, house, building, habitat, etc.
Synonym: to confine.
After
the skin begins to grow too rigid, or the animal is stinted within it, the insect throws
it off.
Oliver Goldsmith… A history of the earth
-) With
the preposition to + noun of the
limited place:
The
bees, […] do not stint their sovereign to the same narrow mansions as content themselves; they build their royal
cells much ticker and stronger, and of more than twice the size.
Eliakim Littell… The Eclectic museum…
Apropos of war, it is perfectly absurd to stint a people so intelligent, so rich, so well armed, to a petty limit of territory
sufficing for 10,000 or 12,000 families.
Edward Lytton… The Coming Race
11. (The subject being animated, or otherwise) to restrict
(something intellectually limitable) to certain limit or
scope; to cause (something incorporeal) to be nothing more or less than it is,
as if by keeping it within limits; to cause not to extend in scope but to an only one.
Synonyms: to determine, to limit.
Antonym: to outstretch
Translation: limitar, in Spanish; limitare, in Italian; limiter, in French.
[…]
when words are substituted for symbols, it will be its aim to circumscribe and stint their import as much as possible
[…]
John Henry Newman… An Essay…
-) With
the preposition to + a noun, an
infinitive, or a gerund, which stand for the limit:
Huysmans,
with that benevolent malice so characteristic of him, used to say that Zola’s
investigation was stinted to going out for a drive once in
a carriage with Madame Zola.
George Moore… Memoirs…
[…]
her supper was stinted to a crust of dry bread and a
draught of cold water.
The New year’s gift, edited by Maden Watts
He
spent a larger portion of his meagre income than he could reasonably afford in
purchasing them [books]; his other wants were stinted
to obtain money for this darling purpose.
The North American review, vol. 73
"Mrs. Saunders is a woman in ten thousand. […], not contented with the
bread and cheese to which I bade her stint her beneficence, a whole
chicken,—a little cake too for you, Sophy; she has not even forgotten the salt.
Sophy, that woman deserves the handsomest token of our gratitude; and we will
present her with a silver teapot the first moment we can afford it."
Edward Bulwer-Lytton… What Will He Do With It
12. To limit or restrain (something) in quantity or in
intensity; this is, to cause not to extend in quantity or in intensity but to an certain
limit. Hence: to diminish.
Translation: limitar, in Spanish; limitare, in Italian; limiter, in French.
It
is a very bad and thriftless economy in building a new stable to stint the room afforded to each
horse. A dozen horses may be rendered uncomfortable and unable to take their
proper rest, merely for the sake of making the stable hold one additional
animal.
William Percival… The veterinarian
A
disposition to stint your labour, to do as little as
you possibly can, and to do that little, in a careless, unneat, half-finished
manner, is a great blemish in your character.
John James… The family monitor 1828
[…]
they stinted the amount of tin.
N. Hudson Moore… The collector’s manual
[…]
to stint the quantity of light.
The photographic art-journal, vol. 5
-) With the
preposition to + a
number and a noun designative of the limit:
Should
the horse have to undertake a longer journey than walking about the farm, the allowance
of water should be stinted to 10 gluts; but if he is to be
at home, he may drink as much as he pleases.
Henry Stephens… The farmer’s guide
Our
allowance was stinted to three bottles of stinking
water: during more than a year we had not tasted wine.
John Pinkerton… A general collection…
[…]
when my going abroad was stinted to four hours a day.
Illustrations of the literary history… vol. 5
13. To restrict (a person) to a number or quantity of what he
(she) may do, use, spend, drink, eat, employ, etc.; this is, to let (some
one) use, spend, drink, eat, employ, do, etc., something only to a limited
quantity; to restrict to a scant allowance. Hence: to restrict (a person) to a lesser number
or quantity; to reduce.
Synonyms: to limit, restrict
Synthetic antonym: to make (a person) to prodigalize
something.
Translation: limitar (a alguno),
in Spanish; limitare (qualcuno),
in Italian; limiter (quelqu’un),
in French.
-) With the preposition to + a
number and a noun designative of the limit:
[…]
why should not they choose our wives, limit our expenses, and stint us to a certain number of dishes, of glasses of wine, and
of cups of tea?
Thomas Macaulay… Essays, critical and miscellaneous
Nor
did he stint us to any
number of words, inviting us to go on beyond 60, which we thought abundantl
enough.
Samuel Pepys… Diary…
I have
told him he is not stinted to the sum we had spoke of, which
was agreed on.
James Vernon… Letters illustrative…
[Because
of] the rapidity with which roundabout frames are superseding the old-fashioned
loom in the manufacture of shirts, drawers, pantaloons, &c., great numbers
of workpeople are either stinted to short
time or [… dismissed from] employ entirely.
The Living age, vol. 29
Why
should she stint us to one
or two puddens a week, and those as hard as brickbats […]?
Elizabeth Braddon… Joshua Haggard’s Daughter
[…]
if a horse is stinted to an
allowance that would keep him in a tolerable plight with only a little walking
exercise, and then is put to work without an increase of food, he will of
course became thin.
John Stuart… American turf register…
So
small was the quantity of milk purchased that the officers were stinted to a few spoonfuls each, which, with as limited a
quantity of rice, meal, or meat, constituted our daily bill of fare.
William Gray… Travels in Western Africa
-) In the reflexive
mode:
Had
he been wise, he would have shunned places of public resort, […] and stinted himself to one bottle at a meal.
Thomas Macaulay… The history of England
It
is a general impression of the people of Stockholm that there are visit-worthy
objects within and near it sufficient to occupy a stranger’s time for fully
three weeks. I stinted myself
to nine days,
and therefore saw only a selection of the best objects, among which the palace
was the chief.
Chambers’s Edimburgh journal
To
counteract a tendency to corpulency, […] Byron, at one period, dined four days
in the week on fish and vegetables, and even stinted
himself to a
pint of claret.
The living age, vol. 12
[…]
he wrote a laconic note to George, took a cutlet at Long’s, stinted himself to three glasses of wine, and before
ten o’clock repaired to his new residence.
Theodore Hook… Cousin William
You
know I am a single man, and have no wife nor family, and so I can afford to
spend a trifle; and so I do. I don’t spend so much there as many. At first I stinted
myself to a shilling in a week, and
then, somehow, it got on to eighteen-pence, and then to two shillings; and now
I commonly spend about half-a-crown a week; but I mean to stop there.
The Cottager’s monthly visitor
Instead
of spending my income of a thousand guineas in the year, it is certainly
possible to stint myself to fifty pounds.
Thomas Chalmers… On political economy
The
little brown loaf and cup of weak tea, to which she stinted herself, became nectar and ambrosia […]
Harriet Gordon… Courtship and wedlock
14. Very rare: to cause (an animated being) to be in
an restrictive state or circumstance, as if by confining him to it.
Synonym: to reduce.
15. To cause (an animated being) to be short of something,
having restricted its quantity in consequence of a deliberate design, as the
one of scrimping, or the one of restricting its use; this is, to deprive
(some one) of something by
supplying it limitedly, insufficiently or unsatisfiedly; this is, to keep on
short allowance; to be parsimonious with (some one).
Synonyms: to scrimp, to abridge, scant (someone)
of.
Antonym: to over-supply.
Translation: privar (a alguien) de
algo, escatimando su cantidad, in Spanish; privare (qualcuno) di
qualcosa supplendoci grettamente o limitatamente, in Italian; priver (quelqu’un) de quelque chose, en y suppléant économiquement, in French.
'The only care she knew,' returned the daughter, 'was to be beaten, and stinted, and abused sometimes […]'
Charles Dickens… Dombey and Son
Stinted as we are for space, we
cannot, as we should wish, bring before the reader the passages from the
originals writers […]
The living age, vol. 1
-) With the
preposition of + noun of the
thing of which one is short or deprived:
I have
been stinted of education, liberty, money,
dress, the very necessaries of life, the commonest pleasures of childhood, the
commonest possessions of youth.
Charles Dickens… The Mystery…
The
last day before the drawing of the lottery, the offices are thronged with
fathers and mothers of families, who stint their
children of bread to buy dearly a few
hours of golden illusion....
William Howells… Venetian Life
… the
sheep was stinted of meat
or had an ailment.
Henry Stephens… The book of the farm, vol. 2
-) With the preposition in + noun of the
thing limited in quantity:
The
cow kind is to be found in almost every part of the world, large in proportion
to the richness of the pasture; and small as the animal is stinted in its food.
Oliver Goldsmith… A history of the Earth…
The
tame rabbits are larger than the wild ones from their taking more nourishment,
and using less exercise; but their flesh is not so good, being more insipid and
softer. In order to improve it, they are chiefly fed upon bran, and are stinted in their water.
Oliver Goldsmith… A history of the Earth…
The
pasture grasses did not fare so well as those for hay. […] so that every […
kind] of beast were stinted in pasturage all summer.
The journal of agriculture, vol. 3
Never
stint your horses at home in hay and oats, but fill the rack to the top, and the manger to the brim.
Jonathan Swift… The works…
I
surveyed this man, as he turned himself about, and concluded that the tailor
who worked for him had been threatened with a specimen of his art, if he stinted him in cloth; for the skirts of his
coat were ample, terminating in an inclined plane, the corners in front being
much lower than the middle of the robe behind…
Frederick Marryat… Frank Mildmay
That
morning, at breakfast, her mother had stinted [… Agnes] in milk—just a little—that she might have enough to make some milk-porridge
for their dinner.
George MacDonald… A Double Story
-) In the
reflexive mode:
Sausage
rolls are very fat, and, consequently, satisfying. I bought one for my
breakfast, one for dinner, and a third, which I ate at night, […]. I never
bought all three at a time, but went out for each, in order to have something
to do. Now and then, being madly fond of smoking, I stinted
myself of one
roll, and bought a cigar instead.
Frederick Olmsted… Walks and talks…
In
order to let his children be respectably dressed and maintain a decent
appearance […] he stinted himself
of almost
the common necessaries of life.
George MacArthur… The mysteries of London
He
had for months stinted himself
of many
comforts, that he might add weekly to a sum which he had saved for the purchase
of a horse and water-cart. He was already master of a few hundreds francs.
The living age, vol. 1
[…]
having secured fresh berries, he [the captain] sowed these on board ship, and
often stinted himself of his daily allowance of water
for the sake of the young plants.
Harper’s magazine, vol. 1
He
drudged hard and stinted himself
of ease and
comfort.
James Ballantine… Chronicle of the hundred birthday…
[…]
Kionk already selected a particular site for his own future settlement, and by
no means stinted himself in the number of his
self-allotted acres.
Gilmore Simms… Southward Ho!
There
is nothing more mistaken than to stint yourself in the
proportions of your rooms, the numbering your bed-rooms, or the accommodation of
your offices, for the value of a trifle of brick and mortar!
Catherine Frances… The banker’s wife
16. To cause (an inanimate being) to be scanty of something.
-) With the
preposition of + noun of the thing of which something is
scanty:
[…] stint your milk room of air, and keep the cream pot
covered tight, to exclude the flies.
Thomas Fessenden… The New England farmer
[…]
on the cliffs of romantic rivers, […] where it is stinted
of soil, it often shoots from the crevices of the rocks in very picturesque
forms.
John Marius… The Rural cyclopedia
… productive
industry is stinted of its usual supplies.
Stuart Mill… Principles of Political Economy
17. To give, spend, supply (something) limitedly or
stintedly; this is, to give, spend, supply in scanty quantity.
Synonyms: to scant, niggardize, diminish.
Antonyms: to
prodigalize, lavish.
Translation: escatimar (algo), in
Spanish; supplire a qualcosa grettamente
o limitatamente, o lesinare su qualcosa, in Italian; lésiner sur quelque chose, in French.
Where
toil ceases not during the twenty-four hours, gas cannot be stinted, and it is largely consumed in the Cottonborough
factories.
William Ainsworth… Mervyn Clitheroe
Mr.
Comberbach took care that the cellar should be well stocked with the finest old
port and Madeira (champagne or hock were never given), and as Mrs. Mervyn never
stinted her wine, while the reverend
gentleman who sat at the bottom of the table was fully aware of her hospitable
wishes, and carefully seconded them himself, her guests were always plentifully
supplied.
William Ainsworth… Mervyn Clitheroe
18. To give (something incorporeal) limitedly or stintedly;
this
is,
to do restrictedly (an action) on someone or something.
Synonyms: to confer, or to grant limitedly, to
scant, niggardize, diminish.
Antonyms: to
prodigalize, lavish.
Translation: escatimar (algo), in
Spanish; supplire a qualcosa grettamente
o limitatamente, o lesinare su qualcosa, in Italian; lésiner sur quelque chose, in French.
That
tenderness and care which she stinted to her second son, Margherita
Goldoni lavished on her first born, on her Carlino.
Joseph Kennard… Goldoni and the Venice…
-) In the reflexive mode:
He
rather stinted himself the pleasure of seeing [Marjory].
Robert Stevenson… The Merry Men
19. a. To restrict (the use of a common pasture) to a number of cattle; to
limit the number of cattle that may graze upon (a common land). b. To assign a limited permission
to (a person), for him (her) to graze his (her) cattle upon common land; to permit
(someone) to graze stintedly his cattle upon common pasture.
The
milch-cows were turned out in good weather into a dry sheltered pasture of sixteen
acres, which had been so hard stinted, as to afford them little or
no food, but had the advantage of plenty of good water.
The Farmer’s magazine, volumen 11
[…]
the rights of common over a common pasture, which is gated or stinted to a definite number of beasts held in a fixed number of
rights, may at any moment, if not so already, be converted into rights of
common in gross.
Robert Hunter… The Preservation of Open Spaces
20. Very rare: to
assign a stint or a task to (a person).
This
work is performed by the field-workers of the farm, and they are placed or stented to the work, as it is termed, at every 2 rows.
Henry Stephens… The book of the farm, vol. 1
21. To make (a mare)
copulate with a horse, in order to obtain its progeny.
-) It is usually employed in a passive construction.
Those
mares which have foaled will be in season on the third day after; but it is not
advisable to put them to the horse until the ninth, when they will probably be stinted.
William Maxwell… The field book
When
a farmer wishes to obtain a good hunting-horse, a month later may be proper.
“But,” says Mr. Burke, “if his mare be thorough-bred, and he wish to take the
chance of having a foal with some pretensions to running, then the earlier a
mare is stinted the better.
John Wilson… The Rural cyclopedia
-) With the preposition to + noun of the
horse:
For those
7 years the fresh young mares, stinted to the
best stallion that can be secured, will each produce, and bring up, a foal
every year, and perform, at the same time, their part of the work with ease.
Henry Stephens… The book of the farm, vol. 2
Various
have been the measures resorted to, to stint mares to the horse, which have proved barren for several years, or perhaps never
bred at all.
William Maxwell… The field book
A
mare, when [… sexually penetrated], is said to be covered by or stinted to a particular stallion.
Henry Stephens… The farmer’s guide…
Words
derived from STINT: unstinted, unstintedly, unstinting, unstintingly, stinted, stintedly,
stintedness, stinter, stintage, stint (n.)
