hint
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /hɪnt/
rhymes: -ɪnt
Forms: form: hints
Etymology: From Middle English hinten, hynten, variant of henten (“to lay hold of, catch”), from Old English hentan (“to seize, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *hantijan, from Proto-Germanic *hantijaną. Doublet of hent. Related also to hunt.
Senses: examples: text: I needed a hint to complete the crossword.
synonyms: indication
tip
glosses: A clue.
examples: text: He gave me a hint that my breath smelt.
synonyms: allusion
implication
innuendo
insinuation
nod
glosses: An implicit suggestion that avoids a direct statement.
examples: text: There was a hint of irony in his voice.
text: I could taste a hint of lemon in my iced water.
text: And I perceived no touch of change,
⁠No hint of death in all his frame,
⁠But found him all in all the same, […]
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XIV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 23:
text: Mother very rightly resented the slightest hint of condescension. She considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom,[…].
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: touch
word: trace
word: ace
word: tinge
word: atom
word: trace element
word: aught
word: bissel
word: bit
word: crumb
word: glimpse
word: dab
word: damn
word: dash
word: diddly
word: glint
word: dot
word: spatter
word: drop
word: dusting
word: fleck
word: hint
word: flip
word: flyspeck
word: grain
word: halfpennyworth
word: inch
word: iota
word: jot
word: lick
word: mite
word: modicum
word: molecule
word: morceau
word: morsel
word: mote
word: ooch
word: ounce
word: particle
word: pennyworth
word: piece
word: pinch
word: scantling
word: semblance
word: scent
word: scintilla
word: scooch
word: scrap
word: scruple
word: shred
word: skerrick
word: skoosh
word: skosh
word: sliver
word: smattering
word: smidge
word: smidgen
word: smidget
word: smidgy
word: smitch
word: smithereen
word: soupçon
word: spark
word: speck
word: speckle
word: spot
word: sprinkle
word: sprinkling
word: strain
word: tad
word: tidbit
word: tidge
word: tittle
word: toddick
word: touch
word: trace
word: trifle
word: tuppence worth
word: vestige
word: whiff
word: whit
glosses: A small, barely detectable amount.
examples: text: This font does not scale well to small sizes; the hints for the 10-point letter 'g' still need work.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Information in a computer-based font that suggests how the outlines of the font's glyphs should be distorted in order to produce, at specific sizes, a visually appealing pixel-based rendering; an instance of hinting.
topics: computing
databases
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: An instruction to the database engine as to how a query should be executed, for example whether to use an index or not.
examples: text: I, not remembering how I cried out then, / Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint / That wrings mine eyes to't.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
synonyms: chance
moment
glosses: An opportunity; occasion; fit time.
Derived terms: broad hint
drop a hint
get the hint
hintline
Irish hint
take a hint
take the hint
type hint