stint

present singular third person stints · participle present stinting · participle past stinted · past stinted

1. archaicintransitiveTo stop (an action); cease, desist.

   The damsel stinted in her song.

   1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   We mon haue payne that neuer shall stynt

   We deamons have pain that shall never cease

   15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 6, line 161

   O do thy cruell wrath and spightfull wrong / At length allay, and stint thy stormy strife […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   And stint thou too, I pray thee.

   c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

   Synonyms: anchor, astand, blin, brake, cease, desist, draw up, grind to a halt

2. intransitiveobsoleteTo stop speaking or talking (of a subject).
3. intransitiveTo be sparing or mean.

   The next party you throw, don't stint on the beer.

   Synonyms: skimp

4. transitiveTo restrain within certain limits; to bound; to restrict to a scant allowance.

   She stints them in their meals.

   1729, William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

   2 more examples

   I shall not in the least go about to extenuate the Latitude of it: or to stint it only to the Produćtion of Weeds, of Thorns, Thisiles, and other the less useful Kinds of Plants

   1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies

   Schepisi makes it clear that the outlandish rules, the strict self-discipline, the body hatred, and erotophobia is destructive; it is doing no one any good. But since he is also presenting a (somewhat) loving evocation of his own past, this measure gets soft peddled. Worse, it stints the film's analysis, and by not being totally honest, causes and plays upon some dangerous misunderstanding.

   1982 February 13, Michael Bronski, “Boys from Catholic School”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 12

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.

   The majority of maiden mares will become stinted while at work.

   1861, John Henry Walsh, The Horse, in the Stable and the Field

plural stints

1. A period of time spent doing or being something; a spell.

   He had a stint in jail.

   1 more example

   Lilian Greenwood has ranked boosting diversity and inclusivity among her crowning achievements from her two-year stint chairing the House of Commons Transport Select Committee.

   2020 May 20, “Network News: A legacy of greater diversity in transport”, in Rail, page 13

2. Limit; bound; restraint; extent.

   God has wrote upon no created thing the utmost stint of his power.

   1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London

3. Quantity or task assigned; proportion allotted.

   Jack bovv'd and vvas oblig'd—confeſs'd 'tvvas ſtrange / That ſo retir'd he ſhould not vviſh a change, / But knevv no medium betvveen guzzling beer, / And his old stint—three thouſand pounds a year.

   1782, William Cowper, “Retirement”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 288

4. hobbiesA part of the race between two consecutive pit stops.

   That left Maldonado with a 6.2-second lead. Alonso closed in throughout their third stints, getting the gap down to 4.2secs before Maldonado stopped for the final time on lap 41.

   2012 May 13, Andrew Benson, “Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win”, in BBC Sport

plural stints

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

1. misspellingMisspelling of stent (“medical device”).