tine

plural tines

1. A spike or point on an implement or tool, especially a prong of a fork or a tooth of a comb.

   The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were of the same material as the smaller vessels.

   1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan the Untamed

   1 more example

   Sitting at the table one day, I held the fork in my left hand and pierced a piece of fried chicken. I put the knife through the second tine, as we had been strictly taught, and began to saw against the bone.

   1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 9, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, pages 45–46

2. A small branch, especially on an antler or horn.

   “By my faith, sirs,” he continued, half turning in his saddle to address his escort, “unless my woodcraft is sadly at fault, it is a stag of six tines and the finest that we have roused this journey.

   1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The White Company, New York, N.Y.; Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   “I answer not the challenge of my prisoner,” said Front-de-Bœuf; “nor shalt thou, Maurice de Bracy.—Giles,” he continued, “hang the franklin’s glove upon the tine of yonder branched antlers:[…]

   1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XXVII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC

3. dialectalA wild vetch or tare.

comparative tiner · superlative tinest · alternative tyne

1. small, diminutive

1. obsoleteTrouble; distress; teen.

   As wither'd Weed through cruel Winter's Tine

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   1 more example

   And now has brave Sir Thynnè, Escaped all sorrow and tine; Now sleeps she sweet full many a sleep, On brave Sir Thynnè's arm.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 172

present singular third person tines · participle present tining · participle past tined · past tined

1. obsoleteTo kindle; to set on fire.

   Coals of contention and hot vengeance tin'd.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   The Air attrite to Fire, as late the Clouds / Juſtling or puſht with Winds rude in thir ſhock / Tine the ſlant Lightning, […]

   1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   The priest with holy hands was seen to tine / The cloven wood, and pour the ruddy wine.

   a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC

2. obsoleteTo rage; to smart.

   Ne was there salve, ne was there medicine, / That mote recure their wounds; so inly they did tine.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

present singular third person tines · participle present tining · participle past tined · past tined

1. archaicTo shut in, or enclose.

   “Terrible trying,” said Oak. “I’ve been wet through twice a-day, either in snow or rain, this last fortnight. Cainy and I haven’t tined our eyes to-night.”

   1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   When I was then surrounded on every side by the fiends, and tined about by the blindness of the darkness, then hove I my eyes up and looked hither and yond, whether any help were to come to me, that I might be rescued; […]

   1852, Alfred the Great, translated by Alfred Committee, The Whole Works of King Alfred the Great, volume II, page 388

plural Tines

1. A surname.