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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
dint
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ At times, by dint of heroic effort, the Elves achieved a breathing space and cleared their lands.
▪ By dint of their dogged determination and desire for public recognition, they united the shipping interests in London.
▪ It's a tomato sauce, but it's hot, for sure, by dint of those ubiquitous chili peppers.
▪ Then I launched into the apology, the explanation and finally, by dint of superhuman endeavour, the jokes.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dint

Dint \Dint\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dinted; p. pr. & vb. n. Dinting.] To make a mark or cavity on or in, by a blow or by pressure; to dent.
--Donne. Tennyson.

Dint

Dint \Dint\, n. [OE. dint, dent, dunt, a blow, AS. dynt; akin to Icel. dyntr a dint, dynta to dint, and perh. to L. fendere (in composition). Cf. 1st Dent, Defend.]

  1. A blow; a stroke. [Obs.] ``Mortal dint.''
    --Milton. ``Like thunder's dint.''
    --Fairfax.

  2. The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent.
    --Dryden.

    Every dint a sword had beaten in it [the shield].
    --Tennyson.

  3. Force; power; -- esp. in the phrase by dint of.

    Now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel The dint of pity.
    --Shak.

    It was by dint of passing strength That he moved the massy stone at length.
    --Sir W. Scott.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
dint

Old English dynt "blow dealt in fighting" (especially by a sword), from Proto-Germanic *duntiz (cognates: Old Norse dyntr "blow, kick"). Phrase by dint of ... "by force of, by means of," is early 14c.

Wiktionary
dint

Etymology 1 alt. 1 (label en obsolete) A blow, stroke, especially dealt in a fight. 2 force, power; especially in (term: by dint of). 3 The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent. n. 1 (label en obsolete) A blow, stroke, especially dealt in a fight. 2 force, power; especially in (term: by dint of). 3 The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent. vb. To dent Etymology 2

contraction (eye dialect of didn't didn’t English)

WordNet
dint

n. interchangeable with `means' in the expression `by dint of'

Wikipedia
Dint

Dint may refer to:

  • William Colbeck (gangster) (1890-1943), American gangster nicknamed "Dint"
  • Dint Island, Antarctica
  • The word "Dent", as pronounced by a person from New Zealand

Usage examples of "dint".

I dont know why Im dumb agen or what I did wrong maybe its becaus I dint try hard enuff.

This famous courtezan, whose beauty was justly celebrated, feeling herself eaten away by an internal disease, promised to give a hundred louis to a doctor named Lucchesi, who by dint of mercury undertook to cure her, but Ancilla specified on the agreement that she was not to pay the aforesaid sum till Lucchesi had offered with her an amorous sacrifice.

Madame Aubain finally slid into the ditch, after shoving first Virginia and then Paul into it, and though she stumbled several times she managed, by dint of courage, to climb the other side of it.

Presently, after threading their way among a multitude of locomotives, with and without trains attached, that backed and advanced, or stood still, hissing impatiently on every side, they passed through the station to a broad planking above the river on the other side, and thence, after encounter of more locomotives, they found, by dint of much asking, a street winding up the hill-side to the left, and leading to the German Bierhaus that gives access to the best view of the cataract.

The monk came to my aid, and by dint of driving the bar between the gutter and the lead I succeeded in loosening it, and then, heaving at it with our shoulders, we beat it up till the opening was wide enough.

I gave her courage, however, by dint of praising those charms which the white and beautiful hands could not hide, and at last I persuaded her to come and lie beside me.

Towards the sixth month she had become so large, that her mother, no longer doubting the truth, got into a violent passion, and by dint of blows compelled her to name the father.

She might have relieved herself of what she had to say in a quarter of an hour, but by dint of tears, sighs, groans, digressions, and so forth, she took two hours to tell me that her mother had made her swear to pass the night as she had done.

These kames and sand plains, because of the silicious nature of their materials and the very porous nature of the soil which they afford, are commonly sterile, or at most render a profit to the tiller by dint of exceeding care.

Pitt endeavoured to wrest the miscarriage of the expedition to his prejudice, but the whispers of faction were soon drowned in the voice of the whole people of England, who never could persuade themselves that a gentleman raised to the height of power and popularity by mere dint of superior merit, integrity, and disinterestedness, would now sacrifice his reputation by a mock armament, or hazard incurring the derision of Europe, by neglecting to obtain all the necessary previous information, or doing whatever might contribute to the success of the expedition.

The prahu was gliding through a stretch of comparatively quiet and placid water where the stream spread out into a little basin just above a narrow gorge through which they had just forced their way by dint of the most laborious exertions on the part of the crew.

I dint understand about it but I remembir Dr Strauss said do anything the testor telld me even if it dont make no sense because thats testing.

She had also once been able to trace out patterns very nicely for muslin embroidery, by dint of placing a piece of silver paper over the design to be copied, and holding both against the window-pane while she marked the scollop and eyelet-holes.

I told him I dint think I was going to get smart and he put his hand on my sholder and said Charlie you dont know it yet but your getting smarter all the time.

By dint of throwing the fruit in front of him at judicious intervals Matilda decoyed him back to his stye, while the delivered captives hurried across the paddock.