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quint

1
[kwint, kint]
noun
  1. an organ stop sounding a fifth higher than the corresponding digitals.
  2. Piquet. a sequence of five cards of the same suit, as an ace, king, queen, jack, and ten (quint major), or a king, queen, jack, ten, and nine (quint minor).
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Origin of quint

1
1520–30; < French quinte (feminine of quint) < Latin quīnta, feminine of quīntus fifth

quint

2
[kwint]
noun Informal.
  1. a quintuplet.
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Origin of quint

2
First recorded in 1930–35; shortened form
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for quints

quint

1
noun
  1. (kwɪnt) an organ stop sounding a note a fifth higher than that normally produced by the key depressed
  2. (kɪnt) piquet a sequence of five cards in the same suit
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Word Origin for quint

C17: from French quinte, from Latin quintus fifth

quint

2
noun
  1. US and Canadian short for quintuplet Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): quin
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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

Word Origin and History for quints

quint

n.

1520s, "a tax of one-fifth," from Middle French quint, from Latin quintus "the fifth," ordinal to quinque "five" (see quinque-). Used in English of various groups of five since 17c. First attested 1935 as a shortening of quintuplet (American English; British English prefers quin); used originally of the Dionne quintuplets, born May 28, 1934, near Callander, Ontario, Canada.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper