hint
Forms
- Plural
- hints
- present (v1)
- hint
- past (v2)
- hinted
- past participle (v3)
- hinted
- present participle
- hinting
- 3rd person singular
- hints
Definitions
1.A clue.
- I needed a hint to complete the crossword.
2.An implicit suggestion that avoids a direct statement.
- He gave me a hint that my breath smelt.
3.A small, barely detectable amount.
- There was a hint of irony in his voice.
- I could taste a hint of lemon in my iced water.
4.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.
1.To imply without a direct statement; to provide a clue.
- She hinted at the possibility of a recount of the votes.
- 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.To bring to mind by a slight mention or remote allusion; to suggest in an indirect manner.
- 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.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.
1.Signifies that something previously said should be taken as a hint or heeded closely.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4063
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
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.