dint
dint (DINT) - n., force, effort, power.
Also, a alternate form of dent, as both noun and verb forms. In the main sense, almost always in the phrase "by dint of." The original, now obsolete, meaning is a blow dealt in fighting (especially by a sword, says one dictionary), which sense goes back to Old English dynt -- it acquired the "by means of" sense in the 14th century.
---L.
Also, a alternate form of dent, as both noun and verb forms. In the main sense, almost always in the phrase "by dint of." The original, now obsolete, meaning is a blow dealt in fighting (especially by a sword, says one dictionary), which sense goes back to Old English dynt -- it acquired the "by means of" sense in the 14th century.
---L.