hint

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hint

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From Middle English hinten, hynten, variant of henten (“to lay hold of, catch”), from Old English hentan (“to seize, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *hantijan, from Proto-Germanic *hantijaną. Doublet of hent. Related also to hunt.

• IPA^(key): /hɪnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnt

hint (plural hints)

1. A clue.

   Synonyms: indication, tip

   I needed a hint to complete the crossword.

2. An implicit suggestion that avoids a direct statement.

   Synonyms: allusion, implication, innuendo, insinuation, nod

   He gave me a hint that my breath smelt.

3. A small, barely detectable amount.

   Synonyms: touch, trace; see also Thesaurus:modicum

   There was a hint of irony in his voice.

   I could taste a hint of lemon in my iced water.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XIV, page 23:

     And I perceived no touch of change,
     ⁠No hint of death in all his frame,
     ⁠But found him all in all the same, […]

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     Mother very rightly resented the slightest hint of condescension. She considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, […] .

4. (computing) Information in a computer-based font that suggests how the outlines of the font's glyphs should be distorted in order to produce, at specific sizes, a visually appealing pixel-based rendering; an instance of hinting.

   This font does not scale well to small sizes; the hints for the 10-point letter 'g' still need work.

5. (databases) An instruction to the database engine as to how a query should be executed, for example whether to use an index or not.
6. (obsolete) An opportunity; occasion; fit time.

   Synonyms: chance, moment

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I, not remembering how I cried out then, / Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint / That wrings mine eyes to't.

hint (third-person singular simple present hints, present participle hinting, simple past and past participle hinted)

1. (intransitive) To imply without a direct statement; to provide a clue.

   She hinted at the possibility of a recount of the votes.

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:

     I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity.

2. (transitive) To bring to mind by a slight mention or remote allusion; to suggest in an indirect manner.

   to hint a suspicion

   • 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: J Wright for Lawton Gilliver , →OCLC, page 11, lines 198–199:

     VVilling to vvound, and yet afraid to ſtrike, / Juſt hint a fault and heſitate diſlike; […]

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A Millar, , →OCLC:

     We shall not describe this tragical scene too fully; but we thought ourselves obliged, by that historic integrity which we profess, shortly to hint a matter which we would otherwise have been glad to have spared.

3. (transitive) To develop and add hints to a font.

   The typographer worked all day on hinting her new font so it would look good on computer screens.

• See also Thesaurus:allude

hint

1. (often reduplicated) Signifies that something previously said should be taken as a hint or heeded closely.

   And yes, as long as you are being a good coder and engaging in safe practices, nothing should go wrong. (Hint, hint.)

• Nith, thin, thin'

From English hint.

• IPA^(key):

hint n (singular definite hintet, plural indefinite hint or hints)

1. hint, clue

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): ,

hint

1. neuter singular of hin

Borrowing from English hint.

• Audio:

  (file)

hint f or m (plural hints, diminutive hintje n)

1. hint

• aanwijzing

• tip

hint

1. inflection of hinten:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

From an unattested stem of unknown origin + -t (causative suffix).^[1][2] The stem was probably him-, related to obsolete himlik and thus himlő. It may have had at least a variant with velar /ɯ/, giving rise to the forms hinta and hintó, as reflected by their back-vowel suffixes.^[3]

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: hint
• Rhymes: -int

hint

1. (transitive) to scatter, sprinkle (to cause a substance to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance))

   Synonyms: szór, hullat

   A cukrász porcukrot hint a süteményre. ― The confectioner sprinkles powedered sugar on the cookie.

(With verbal prefixes):

• hint in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

From English hint.

hint n (definite singular hintet, indefinite plural hint, definite plural hinta or hintene)

1. a hint
   • 2014, Sylvia Day, Grepet av deg‎, Bastion Forlag, →ISBN:

     Mykt og taktfast, erfarent, med akkurat det rette hintet av lidenskap holdt i tøyler.

     Soft and measured, experienced, with just the right hint of passion kept in check.

• “hint” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “hint” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From English hint.

hint n (definite singular hintet, indefinite plural hint, definite plural hinta)

1. a hint

• “hint” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Middle English hunten, from Old English huntian.

• IPA^(key): /hɪnt/

hint

1. to hunt
   • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 104:

     To hint dhicka cursed vox vrom Bloomere's lhoan.

     To hunt that cursed fox from Bloomer's land.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 46