I. ˈflint noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, flint, rock; akin to Old High German flins pebble, hard stone, Old Norse flettu grjōt slate, Old Swedish flinta splinter of stone, and probably to Old High German spaltan to split — more at spill
1.
a. : a massive somewhat impure variety of quartz usually gray to brown or nearly black in color, breaking with a conchoidal fracture and sharp edge, being very hard, and striking fire with steel
b. : a concretion or nodule of flint usually embedded in other softer rock
in certain areas the primitive nomads mined flints from the soft chalk
c. : powdered quartz : potter's flint
2. : an implement of flint used by primitive man
3.
a. : a piece of flint for striking fire formerly used for kindling fires or igniting material (as in a flintlock gun)
b. : a material used for striking fire ; especially : an alloy of iron and cerium commonly used in cigarette lighters
4. : something likened to flint in hardness or unyielding quality
the ground was frozen to flint
her heart became flint , she could only resist and deny
as
a. : flint corn
b. : flint glass
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
archaic : to supply (as a gun) with flint
III. adjective
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: from Flint, Michigan
: of or from the city of Flint, Mich.
a Flint physician
: of the kind or style prevalent in Flint
IV.
Usage: usually capitalized
variant of flintshire