/dint-meaning-etymology

/dint/ 

-) Noun.

-) Pronunciation: dɪnt. 

-) Plural: dints.

-) Etymology: from Old English dynt. The words “dent” (hollow in a superfice) and “dunt” seem to be variants of dint.

-) Documented since 890.

-) 1. Obsolete acceptation: a stroke or blow; especially one made with a weapon.

-) 2. The force of a blow; hence, the force of an attack, assault; hence, the force or power of anything. Archaic except in the phrase “by (the) dint of”, which seems to have had originally the literal signification of “by the stroke of” (compare the French phrases à coup de, à coups de). Hence, “by (the) dint of”  is modernly used with the meaning of “by means of”; “by force of”; “by cause of”.

About midnight the enemy made their attack with three regiments, and by dint of superior numbers forced their way into the works at various points.

Southey… History… 1828

To repeat monotonously some common word, until the sound, by dint of frequent repetition, ceased to convey any idea whatever to the mind.  

Poe… Berenice… 1835

… by dint of great perseverance, they traced him to a garret in an old house of seven stories.

Poe… Von Kempelen… 1850

Somehow or other, by dint of pushing and pulling, they did attain the street at last.

Dickens… Barnaby… 1841

… by dint of being excessively obvious.

Poe… The Purloined letter… 1844

'I can hear you, mother.'  But, it was only by dint of bending down to her ear, and at the same time attentively watching the lips as they moved, that she could link such faint and broken sounds into any chain of connexion.

Dickens… Hard Times… 1854

By dint of this ingenious scheme, his gloves were got on to perfection.

Dickens… Great Expectations… 1861

A few yards below the brow of the hill on which he paused a team of horses made its appearance, having reached the place by dint of half an hour's serpentine progress from the bottom of the immense declivity.

Hardy… Jude… 1895

-) 3. (This acceptation seems influenced by “indent” and its conjugates.) What is left by denting; the vestige of a stroke in a superfice; a vestige or impression made by a blow or by pressure, in a hard or plastic surface; a hollow or an impression in a surface, such as is made by a blow with an instrument; hence, an indentation.

-) Synonyms for “dint”: gap, notch, nick.

-) Translation: empreinte, impression, creusure, in French; impronta, in Italian; abolladura, bolladura, in Spanish.

Make the cut smooth and even […] without dints or ridges.

Austen… Treatise of Fruit Trees… 1653

… there stood the portal still, as grim and dark and strong as ever, and, saving for the dints upon its battered surface, quite unchanged.

Dickens… Barnaby… 1841

-) Conjugates of “dint”: dintless, dunt is apparently a variant of dint, dint (verb), dinted, dinting, undinted.