flint

UK: /ˈflɪnt/ US: /flɪnt/ ,(flint)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

flint /flɪnt/   n. 

1. Rocks [uncountable] a hard gray stone, a form of silica.
2. Rocks [countable] a piece of this, esp. when it is used for striking fire.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

flint  (flint), n. 

1. a hard stone, a form of silica resembling chalcedony but more opaque, less pure, and less lustrous.
2. a piece of this, esp. as used for striking fire.
3. Archaeology a chunk of this used as a primitive tool or as the core from which such a tool was struck.
4. something very hard or unyielding.
5. a small piece of metal, usually an iron alloy, used to produce a spark to ignite the fuel in a cigarette lighter.

v.t. 

6. to furnish with flint.

• bef. 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Middle Dutch vlint, Danish flint; compare plinth

flint′like′, adj. 

Flint  (flint), n. 

1. Biographical Austin, 1812–86, U.S. physician: founder of Bellevue and Buffalo medical colleges.
2. Biographical his son Austin, 1836–1915, U.S. physiologist and physician.
3. Place Names a city in SE Michigan. 159,611.
4. Place Names Flintshire.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

flint / flɪnt/ noun

1. an impure opaque microcrystalline greyish-black form of quartz that occurs in chalk. It produces sparks when struck with steel and is used in the manufacture of pottery, flint glass, and road-construction materials. Formula: SiO₂
2. any piece of flint, esp one used as a primitive tool or for striking fire
3. a small cylindrical piece of an iron alloy, used in cigarette lighters
4. Also called: flint glass, white flint colourless glass other than plate glass
5. See optical flint

Etymology: Old English; related to Old High German flins, Old Swedish flinta splinter of stone, Latin splendēre to shine

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Flint / flɪnt/ noun

1. a town in NE Wales, in Flintshire, on the Dee estuary. Pop: 11 936 (2001)
2. a city in SE Michigan: closure of the car production plants led to a high level of unemployment. Pop: 120 292 (2003 est)