What is "stint"

Sanderling \San"der*ling\, n. [Sand + -ling. So called because it obtains its food by searching the moist sands of the seashore.] (Zo["o]l.) A small gray and brown sandpiper ( Calidris arenaria) very common on sandy beaches in America, Europe, and Asia. Called also curwillet, sand lark, stint, and ruddy plover.

"to be sparing or frugal," 1722, earlier "to limit, restrain" (1510s), "cause to cease, put an end to" (mid-14c.), "cease, desist" (intransitive), c.1200, from Old English styntan "to blunt, make dull," probably originally "make short," from Proto-Germanic *stuntijanan (cognates: Old Norse stuttr "short, scant," Middle High German stunz "blunt, short," German stutzen "to cut short, curtail, stop, hesitate"), from PIE root *(s)teu- (1) "to push, stick, knock, beat" (see steep (adj.)). The English word perhaps was influenced by its Scandinavian cognates. Sense of "be careful in expenditure" is from 1848. Related: Stinted; stinting. The noun is attested from c.1300.

Etymology 1 n. A period of time spent doing or being something. A spell. vb. 1 (context archaic intransitive English) To stop (an action); cease, desist. 2 (context obsolete intransitive English) To stop speaking or talking (of a subject). 3 (context intransitive English) To be sparing or mean. 4 (context intransitive English) To restrain within certain limits; to bound; to restrict to a scant allowance. 5 To assign a certain task to (a person), upon the performance of which he/she is excused from further labour for that day or period; to stent. 6 To impregnate successfully; to get with foal; said of mares. Etymology 2

n. Any of several very small wading birds in the genus ''Calidris''. Types of sandpiper, such as the dunlin or the sanderling. Etymology 3

n. (misspelling of stent nodot=1 English) (gloss: medical device).

1. n. an unbroken period of time during which you do something; "there were stretches of boredom"; "he did a stretch in the federal penitentiary" [syn: stretch]

2. smallest American sandpiper [syn: least sandpiper, Erolia minutilla]

3. an individuals prescribed share of work; "her stint as a lifeguard exhausted her"

4. v. subsist on a meager allowance; "scratch and scrimp" [syn: scrimp, skimp]

5. supply sparingly and with restricted quantities; "sting with the allowance" [syn: skimp, scant]

Stint could refer to:

• Stint, one of several very small waders in the bird genus Calidris, which in North America are known as "peeps"
• Northern shoveler, a species of duck
• Stint, an English noun describing a short or limited period of time or length of activity
• Stint, an English verb meaning "to limit", "to refrain from effort" or "to hold back". Compare to skimp.
• Stint, a word often confused with stent, a medical device used to hold open arteries and other bodily conduits

A stint is one of several very small waders in the paraphyletic "Calidris" assemblage – often separated in Erolia – which in North America are known as peeps. They are scolopacid waders much similar in ecomorphology to their distant relatives, the charadriid plovers.

Some of these birds are difficult to identify because of the similarity between species, and various breeding, non-breeding, juvenile, and moulting plumages. In addition, some plovers are also similarly patterned, especially in winter. With a few exceptions, stints usually have a fairly stereotypical color pattern, being brownish above and lighter – usually white – on much of the underside. The breast sides are almost always colored like the upperside, and there is usually a lighter supercilium above brownish cheeks. Notably, golden or orangey colors – common in plovers – are absent. __NOTOC__