noun
1.
minute shreds or ravelings of yarn; bits of thread.
2.
staple cotton fiber used to make yarn.
3.
cotton waste produced by the ginning process.
4.
a soft material for dressing wounds, procured by scraping or otherwise treating linen cloth.
Origin:
1325–75; Middle English, variant of linnet; compare Middle French linette linseed, Old English līnet- flax (or flax-field) in līnetwige lintwhite
1325–75; Middle English, variant of linnet; compare Middle French linette linseed, Old English līnet- flax (or flax-field) in līnetwige lintwhite
Related forms
lint·less, adjective
de·lint, verb (used with object)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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|
Link To lint
00:10
Lint
is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
lint (lɪnt) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | an absorbent cotton or linen fabric with the nap raised on one side, used to dress wounds, etc |
| 2. | shreds of fibre, yarn, etc |
| 3. | chiefly (US) staple fibre for making cotton yarn |
| [C14: probably from Latin linteus made of linen, from līnum flax] | |
| 'linty | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
lint
late 14c., "flax prepared for spinning," also "refuse of flax used as kindling," somehow from O.E. lin "flax" (see linen), perhaps by infl. of M.Fr. linette "grain of flax," dim. of lin "flax," from L. linum "flax, linen." Later "flax refuse used as tinder or for dressing
wounds" (c.1400). Still used for "flax" in Scot. in Burns' time. Applied in Amer.Eng. to stray cotton fluff.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
lint
[from Unix's `lint(1)', named for the bits of fluff it supposedly picks from programs]1. vt. To examine a program closely for style, language usage, and portability problems, esp. if in C, esp. if via use of automated analysis tools, most esp. if the Unix utility `lint(1)' is used. This term used to be restricted to use of `lint(1)' itself, but (judging by references on Usenet) it has become a shorthand for desk check at some non-Unix shops, even in languages other than C. Also as v. delint.
2. n. Excess verbiage in a document, as in "This draft has too much lint".
Jargon
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary
lint definition
A Unix C language processor which carries out more thorough checks on the code than is usual with C compilers.
Lint is named after the bits of fluff it supposedly picks from programs. Judging by references on Usenet this term has become a shorthand for desk check at some non-Unix shops, even in languages other than C. Also used as delint.
[Jargon File]
(1994-11-14)
Example sentences
Cotton gins often add moisture to lint before it is baled.
Those included a fear of being slapped on the back or having someone pick lint off his clothing.
The lint trap located in the air flow system usually contains a removable lint bag or filter.
It's the little things that count-a stray hair, a piece of lint, a smudge of mud.
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