flint

¹ American  

[flint] / flɪnt /

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.

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

4. something very hard or unyielding.

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

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verb (used with object)

1. to furnish with flint.

Flint ² American  

[flint] / flɪnt /

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.

3. a city in SE Michigan.

4. Flintshire.

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flint ¹ British  

/ 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

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

4. Also called: flint glass.   white flint.  colourless glass other than plate glass

5. See optical flint

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verb

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

Flint ² British  

/ 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)

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flint Scientific  

/ 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.

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Other Word Forms

• flintlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of flint

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

Example Sentences

You have to be particular about muzzle-loading a flintlock and making sure the flint is in place.

From Salon • Aug. 4, 2024

Most of the clues come as pottery, flint tools and bones.

From New York Times • Mar. 19, 2024

Here, Hublin's team uncovered chips from flint tools and a quartzite flake consistent with the LRJ technocomplex.

From Science Daily • Jan. 31, 2024

Whereas glass scrapers were an incremental improvement over flint and obsidian, the introduction of the horse sparked a profound shift on the open grasslands, or pampas, of Patagonia.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 7, 2023

Jack hefted the flint knife in his hand.

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman