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splint

Pronunciation: /splɪnt/

The English word “splint” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A narrow strip of wood split or peeled from a larger piece.
  2. A splinter caught in the skin.
  3. A dental device applied consequent to undergoing orthodontia.
  4. A device to immobilize a body part.
  5. A segment of armour consisting of a narrow overlapping plate.
  6. Synonym of splent coal.
  7. A bone found on either side of a horse's cannon bone; the second or fourth metacarpal (forelimb) or metatarsal (hindlimb) bone.
  8. A disease affecting the splint bones, as a callosity or hard excrescence.

verb

  1. To apply a splint to; to fasten with splints.
  2. To support one's abdomen with hands or a pillow before attempting to cough.
  3. To press fingers against the vaginal wall to ease defecation.
  4. To split into thin, slender pieces; to splinter.

Etymology

From Middle English splint, splent, splente, from Middle Low German splinte, splente or Middle Dutch splint, splinte. Cognate with Old High German splinza (“bar, bolt, latch”). All ultimately from Proto-Germanic *splintǭ, *splintō (“piece of wood, splinter”), from Proto-Germanic *splint-, *splind- (“to split”), from a nasalized form of *splītaną (“to split”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley-…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.