lint
[ lint ]
/ lɪnt /
noun
minute shreds or ravelings of yarn; bits of thread.
staple cotton fiber used to make yarn.
cotton waste produced by the ginning process.
a soft material for dressing wounds, procured by scraping or otherwise treating linen cloth.
RELATED WORDS
cord, wire, string, yarn, wool, filament, silk, strand, cotton, grime, dirt, soil, powder, soot, earth, sand, fuzz, jacket, coat, pelt
Nearby words
- linseed meal,
- linseed oil,
- linsey,
- linsey-woolsey,
- linstock,
- lintel,
- linter,
- lintie,
- linton,
- linton, ralph
Origin of lint
1325–75; Middle English, variant of linnet; compare Middle French linette linseed, Old English līnet- flax (or flax-field) in līnetwige lintwhite
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for lint
lint
/ (lɪnt) /
noun
an absorbent cotton or linen fabric with the nap raised on one side, used to dress wounds, etc
shreds of fibre, yarn, etc
mainly US staple fibre for making cotton yarn
Word Origin for lint
C14: probably from Latin linteus made of linen, from līnum flax
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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lint
late 14c., "flax prepared for spinning," also "refuse of flax used as kindling," somehow from the source of Old English lin "flax" (see linen), perhaps from or by influence of Middle French linette "grain of flax," diminutive of lin "flax," from Latin linum "flax, linen;" Klein suggests from Latin linteum "linen cloth," neuter of adjective linteus. Later "flax refuse used as tinder or for dressing wounds" (c.1400). Still used for "flax" in Scotland in Burns' time. Applied in American English to stray cotton fluff.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper