flint

[ flint ]

noun
  1. a hard stone, a form of silica resembling chalcedony but more opaque, less pure, and less lustrous.

  2. a piece of this, especially as used for striking fire.

  1. a chunk of this used as a primitive tool or as the core from which such a tool was struck.

  2. something very hard or unyielding.

  3. a small piece of metal, usually an iron alloy, used to produce a spark to ignite the fuel in a cigarette lighter.

verb (used with object)
  1. to furnish with flint.

Origin of flint

1
before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Middle Dutch vlint,Danish flint;cf. plinth

Other words from flint

  • flintlike, adjective

Other definitions for Flint (2 of 2)

Flint
[ flint ]

noun
  1. Austin, 1812–86, U.S. physician: founder of Bellevue and Buffalo medical colleges.

  2. his son, Austin, 1836–1915, U.S. physiologist and physician.

  1. a city in SE Michigan.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use flint in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for flint (1 of 2)

flint

/ (flɪnt) /


noun
  1. an impure opaque microcrystalline greyish-black form of quartz that occurs in chalk. It produces sparks when struck with steel and is used in the manufacture of pottery, flint glass, and road-construction materials. Formula: SiO 2

  2. any piece of flint, esp one used as a primitive tool or for striking fire

  1. a small cylindrical piece of an iron alloy, used in cigarette lighters

  2. Also called: flint glass, white flint colourless glass other than plate glass

verb
  1. (tr) to fit or provide with a flint

Origin of flint

1
Old English; related to Old High German flins, Old Swedish flinta splinter of stone, Latin splendēre to shine

British Dictionary definitions for Flint (2 of 2)

Flint

/ (flɪnt) /


noun
  1. a town in NE Wales, in Flintshire, on the Dee estuary. Pop: 11 936 (2001)

  2. a city in SE Michigan: closure of the car production plants led to a high level of unemployment. Pop: 120 292 (2003 est)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for flint

flint

[ flĭnt ]


  1. A very hard, gray to black variety of chalcedony that makes sparks when it is struck with steel. It breaks with a conchoidal fracture.

  2. The dark gray to black variety of chert.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.