▪ I. splint, n.
(splɪnt)
Forms: α. 4–6 splente, 4–9 splent (5 splentt, 6 splenntt, spleynt). β. 5–6 splynt(e, splinte, 6– splint.
[a. MDu. splinte (Du. splint), or MLG. splinte, splente (LG. splinte, splente, and splint, whence G., Da., Sw., Norw. splint) metal plate or pin, = OHG. splinza ‘repagulum, pessulus’, of doubtful etymology: cf. spline n. and splinter n.]
1. a. One of the plates or strips of overlapping metal of which certain portions of mediæval armour were sometimes composed; esp. one of a pair of pieces of this nature used for protecting the arms at the elbows.
| α 13.. Coer de L. 4979 He was armyd in splentes off steel. 1374 Acc. John de Sleford in For. Acc. 49 Edw. III B, In..xj paribus splentes, ij paribus tibialium. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2061 The splent and the spleene on the spere lengez! 1474 Rental-bk. Cupar-Angus (1879) I. 194 Tha sal be..welbeseyn with Jakkis, hattis, and splentis. 1530 Palsgr. 274 Splent, harnesse for the arme, garde de bras. 1561 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees, 1835) 193 A stuffed Jacke, a payre of splents. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 281 The number of iiij⊇ speiris weill arrayit in jake and splent and wther airmor. a 1802 Kinmont Willie xvii. in Scott Minstrelsy, He has calld him forty marchmen bauld,..With spur on heel, and splent on spauld. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose viii, Such force, as to drive the iron splents of the gauntlet into the hand of the wearer. |
| fig. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6320 When he forthe went, Aboute his nek agayne sho [a snake] cleuyd. Shame mare þan him greuyd Of þat sary splent. |
| β 1499 Crt. Rolls Maldon, Essex Bundle 58 No. 5, Unum par brygonders, 1 par splynts. 1517 in Archaeol. XLVII. 310, dcxl splyntes, and dcccviij salettes. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 237 They carye..certeyne armure of golde: especially great and rounde pieces on theyr brestes, and splintes on there armes. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe ii, The knees and feet were defended by splints, or thin plates of steel, ingeniously jointed upon each other. 1824 Meyrick Armour III. 27 Having not only splints at the elbows, but the breast and back-plates made flexible in the same manner. |
b. Zool. (See
quot.)
| 1896 tr. Boas' Zool. 408 True scales; if these are much broader than they are long, as on the ventral side of the body in Snakes, they are termed splints. |
2. a. A slender, moderately long and
freq. flexible, rod or slip of wood cut or cleft off and serving for some particular purpose,
esp. as a lath or wattle, or prepared for use in some manufacture.
The exact meaning in the first two quotations is uncertain.
| α c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Reliq. Antiq. II. 84 Splentes, trenchons. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 449 Traches et trenchous, Sulle-trees and splentes. 1348 in 1st Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. (1874) 65/1 For splentes for the vineyard, 7d. For hordlis, 4s. 6d. 1410 Crt.-roll Gt. Waltham Manor (MS.), Defrondaverunt salices..ad valenciam ii carectat. Splents, pretium viii{supd}. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 73 Ley splentes vnderneth and al abouȝt the sides, that the Capon touche no thinge of the potte. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §122 Whan the swarme is knytte, take a hyue, and splente it within with thre or foure splentes. 1530 Palsgr. 274 Splent for an house, laite. 1594 Barnfield Affect. Sheph. (Arb.) 13 Or wilt thou in a yellow Boxen bole, Taste with a woodden splent the sweet lythe honey? 1601 Holland Pliny I. 459 When the wood is cut into many clefts & splents, fresh and green, they are heaped vp on high [etc.]. 1847 Halliw., Splent, a lath... The term is still in use in Suffolk. Splents are parts of sticks or poles, either whole or split, placed upright in forming walls, and supported by rizzers [= poles] for receiving the clay daubing. |
| β 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxviii. (1495) 933 Calathus is a baskette made of splyntes to beere fygges therin. 1463 Crt.-roll Gt. Waltham Manor (MS.), Pro splintes inde habend. pro camera ad finem orientalem ejusdem domus. 1483 Ibid., Reparabunt..dictam domum et cameram in daubitura, videlicet cum Splynts et Cley mixt. cum stramine. 1577 Harrison England ii. xii. 84 b/2 An ouerthwart post in their walles, wherevnto they fasten their Splintes or radles. 1598 Florio, Assicella, a little board or a planke or splint of thin boords. 1633 Quarles in P. Fletcher Purple Isl. Commend. Verses, Mans Bodie's like a house: his greater bones Are the main timber; and the lesser ones Are smaller splints. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 215 The Hive being taken and housed,..loosen the ends of the splints with your Finger. 1751 J. Bartram Observ. 48 The 2 splints of wood spreading each side, directs the point into the fish. 1809 A. Henry Trav. 14 The bark is lined with small splints of cedar-wood. 1864 Strauss, etc. Eng. Worksh. 231 The paraffin dipped splints are taken to the woodmatch-framing department. 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 559/1 We take a broom splint sometimes, or a penknife, or a pin. |
b. Mil. (See
quot.)
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Splint, a tapering strip of wood, used to adjust a shell centrally in the bore of a mortar. |
3. a. A splinter of wood or stone; a chip or fragment. Now chiefly
north. dial.| α c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 7397 Here speres brast In splentes. 1495 [see β]. 1574 T. Hill Bees xxxvii, Of it selfe this draweth forth thornes or splents of wood runne deepe into the fleshe. 1612 North's Plutarch 1126 So soone as ever they pulled out the head and splent of the dart. 1849– in dial. glossaries (Durh., Cheshire, Northumbld.). |
| β 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. ii. (Tollem. MS.), Þe mater [of snow] is broke in brode parties, as it were splyntes [1495 splentes] of shellis. 1578 T. Procter Gorg. Gallery H iij b, My Hart like Ware so lightly did not brooke More then one stroke, ere Cupid brought to passe One splint of skale therof to take away. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 312/2 To extracte a Thorne or Splinte out of anye wounde without payne. a 1604 Hanmer Chron. Ireland (1809) 301 The splints of broken staves fly about their ears. 1638 A. Read Chirurg. xxii. 163 These things are to bee done when splints of the scull doe pricke the menings. 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 22 If he haue not Judgment, the Shivers or Splints of the Whin or hard Stone..will Wound him severely. 1865– in Yks. and Lancs. dial. glossaries. 1868 Whitman Chants Democratic Poems 147, I see the savage types, the bow and arrow, the poisoned splint [etc.]. |
b. S. Afr. A fragment or broken piece of diamond.
| 1872 C. Rhodes Let. in B. Williams Cecil Rhodes (1921) iv. 29 You must not however think that every diamond one finds is a beauty, the great proportion are nothing but splints. 1887 J. W. Matthews Incwadi Yami xxvii. 415 Faithfully carrying out their master's behests, and never robbing him of a single splint. 1903 W. R. Cattelle Precious Stones 79 Beyond the small pieces resulting from cleavages, other fragments are saved which cannot be cut to jewels. Some of these are called ‘splints’, and are used for mechanical purposes or ground to powder. |
4. a. Surg. A thin piece of wood or other more or less rigid material used to hold a fractured or dislocated bone in position during the process of reunion; by extension, any appliance or apparatus serving this purpose. Also, an object used to fasten or immobilize teeth or the jaws.
‘Splints vary almost infinitely in form and size, according to the part to which they have to be adapted, and the position in which it is to be held’ (
Penny Cycl. XXII. 368/1). ‘A number of these are specially described in recent Medical Dicts.’ (
N.E.D.).
| α c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 63 If þat þe prickynge eiþer þe dislocacioun nediþ splentis [v.r. splyntes], make þat þe splentis & byndynge faile aboue þe wounde. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Canalis, a splent for a broken limme. 1594 O. B. Quest. Profit. Concern. 32* b, I had rather be packing while my bones be whole, then to be promised golden splents when they are broken. 1634 Lowe's Chirurg. 359 Then it must be banded more slacke, using more bands and no splents. 1748 tr. Vegetius' Distempers Horses 181 Afterwards you shall put square Olive Splents upon it not less than four Fingers broad. 1836–8 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Acharnians v. i, Prepare lint, plaister, greasy wool, and splents To bind his ancle up! |
| β c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xii, Bynde it with flexe above..with iiii. splyntes wele ybounde þerto one agaynn an other because þat þe bones shuld not remewe. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Attelles, little splintes which Surgeons set about ones legge or broken arme. 1643 J. Steer tr. Exp. Chyrurg. xv. 63 A is a splint of the breadth of three fingers. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 162 Splints..are made of much paper and then Chips of Wood. c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide i. vi. (1723) 93 To each Side of this Bone is fastned a Splint, in Shape like a Bodkin. 1826 S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 278 Splints ought to be made of strong materials, and of a sufficient length to reach beyond the two joints nearest the fracture. 1849 H. Miller Footpr. Creat. iv. (1874) 41 A splint of wood or whalebone fastened over a fractured toe or finger. 1876 C. Gibbon Robin Gray viii, His arm was still in splints. 1948 Brit. Dental Jrnl. LXXXV. 223/1 Removable acrylic bite blocks or splints with clasps were constructed.., so that the bite was opened..and the mandible moved forward. 1962 Blake & Trott Periodontology xiv. 144 The main object of periodontal splint design is to make use of sound teeth to give stability to mobile teeth. |
b. transf. (See
quot.)
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2280/2 Splint, a wooden strip for splicing and stiffening a fractured bar or beam. |
5. Farriery.
a. A callous tumour developing into a bony excrescence formed on the metacarpal bones of a horse's or mule's leg, occurring usually on the inside of the leg along the line of union of the splint-bones with the cannon-bone.
through-splint: see
through- 2.
| α 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §97 A splent is the leaste soraunce that is, that alwaye contynueth, excepte lampas. 1562 Turner Baths (1568) 2, I thinke verely that the bath of brimstone..will heale splentes, spavines, and all knobbes. 1609 Dekker Lanth. & Candle Lt. Wks. (Grosart) III. 280 A Horse cannot be lustie at legges, by reason that either his hoofes bee not good, or that there be Splents, or any other Eyesore about the nether Ioynt. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 152/1 The Splent..is a spungy hard gristly bone..which by making the Horse stark, causeth him to stumble. 1721 W. Gibson Farrier's Dispens. iii. xvi. 305 Bladders, Wind-galls, Splents, and other Swellings in the Legs and Joints. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 67 If there be large Splents, they may truly be called Blemishes. 1830 J. Hinds Osmer's Treat. Horse 267 Splents cause lameness. 1859 Blackw. Mag. LXXXV. 455 The animal's legs were so enlarged by splents that they were literally cylindrical. |
| β 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingt. i. ii. B ij, A leg both straight and cleane, That hath nor spauen, splint nor flawe. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1183/4 An Iron gray Gelding, having on each Leg a Splint. 1690 Dryden Don Sebastian i. i, Feel his legs master; neither splint, spavin, nor windgall. 1724 Lond. Gaz. No. 6266/4 Two large Splints on his two fore Legs. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece iii. 435 The Splint is a fixed callous Excrescence..growing on the Flat of the Inside or Outside, and sometimes on both, of the Shank Bone. 1831 Youatt Horse 244 The splint is invariably found on the outside of the small bone, and generally on the inside of the leg. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 312 There's a splint on the off-leg! |
b. The growth of this, as a specific malady in horses.
| 1594 Greene & Lodge Looking-Gl. Lond. 266 G.'s Wks. (Grosart) XIV. 18 If he haue outward diseases, as the spavin, splent, ring-bone, wind-gall. 1639 T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 38 Mallenders, splent, serewe, ring-bone, and such like infirmities in the fore-feet. 1704 Dict. Rust. (1726), Splint, a Disease in an Horse. 1831 Youatt Horse 365 Splent.—It depends entirely on the situation of the bony tumour.., whether it is to be considered as unsoundness. 1847 T. Brown Modern Farriery 114 It is difficult to conceive how splent should appear on the outside of the small bones. |
† 6. = tent n.3 2.
Obs.—1| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 187 When the vineger is consumed, then put in the Opponax, and of both together make like taynters or splints and thurst them into the wound. |
† 7. A separate turn or coil in a spiral.
Obs.| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 717 The splents of the spire are smooth and not deep, being for the most part like vnto the wreathing turnings of Snails. |
8. (See
quot. 1883 and
splint coal.)
| 1789 T. Williams Min. Kingd. I. 218 Sometimes masses of splent or parrot..will be found upon the side or at the bottom of a ravine. 1793 Earl Dundonald Descr. Estate Culross 4 The Coals are partly Smithy Coals, and partly Rich Caking Splents. Ibid., There are several Seams of Dry Splents. 1849 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms, Northumb. & Durh. (1851) 49 Splint.—Coarse grey-looking coal... Suitable for burning lime, and the better sorts for steam purposes. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 231 Splint or Splent, a laminated, coarse, inferior, dull-looking, hard coal, producing much white ash; intermediate between cannel and common pit coal. 1889 Pall Mall G. 1 Oct. 6/3 The prices fixed for splint are 2s. higher. |
| attrib. 1887 P. M'Neill Blawearie 57 Where the men had first to descend one of these stairs..to the splint seam. |
9. a. attrib. and
Comb., chiefly in sense 2, as
splint-cutter,
splint-cutting,
splint-machine,
splint-plane;
splint-like adj.;
splint-boot, a special boot for a horse suffering from a splint. See also
splint-bone.
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Splint-cutter, a shaper and maker of splints. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 4693, Web, Fetlock, Speedy, Splint,..and Strengthening Boots. 1862 Huxley Lect. Working Men 141 The splint⁓like bones in the leg of the horse. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2281 Splint-machine, a machine for riving or planing small slats or splints for use in making woven-slat blinds, baskets [etc.]. Ibid., Splint-plane, one for riving splints from a block or board. 1889 A. R. Wallace Darwinism 385 We find in the places of the second and fourth digits only two slender splintlike bones. |
b. In the sense ‘made or formed of splints’, as (in sense 1)
splint-armour, (in sense 2)
splint-basket,
splint-bottom,
splint-chair,
splint letter-case;
splint-bottomed adj.| (a) 1842 Burn Nav. & Milit. Dict., {Eacu}crevisse, splint-armour. 1885 Dillon Fairholt's Costume Eng. II. 376 Splint armour for the legs..is common in German effigies. |
| (b) 1850 Knickerbocker XXXVI. 73 She wiped out the seats of some splint-bottomed chairs with her calico apron. 1867 Summer in L. Goldthwaite's Life 175 The finest and whitest and most graceful of all possible little splint baskets. 1871 B. Taylor in Hansen-Taylor & Scudder Life & Lett. (1884) II. xxiii. 564 An old-fashioned, high-backed splint-chair. 1876 ‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer vi. 68 The master, throned on high in his great splint-bottom armchair, was dozing. 1889 M. E. Wilkins Mor. Exigency (1891) 28 There were a few poor attempts at adornment on the walls; a splint letter-case, a motto worked in worsteds [etc.]. 1919 T. K. Holmes Man from Tall Timber iv. 36 A comfortable armchair with splint-bottom. Ibid. v. 46 Their splint-bottomed armchairs. |
▪ II. splint, v. (
splɪnt)
Forms: α. 5–7
splent, 6
splente. β. 7–
splint.
[f. the n. Cf. Sw. splinta to split or splinter.] † 1. trans. To cover, furnish, or construct with splints or thin strips of wood, etc.
Obs.| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3264 A-bowte cho whirllide a whele with hir whitte hondez... The spekes..was splentide alle with speltis of siluer. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §122 Whan the swarme is knytte, take a hyue, and splente it within with thre or foure splentes. 1613 Markham Eng. Husbandman i. ii. xv. 110 Then you shall make a studde wall, which shall be splinted. 1632–3 in Willis & Clark Cambr. (1886) II. 697 The Particions and studyes, to be splented and Clayed betweene the Studds. 1639 Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. xlviii. §527 The partition wall he buildeth up even, being splented and dawbed with clay-mortar. |
2. To adjust, bind, or fit a surgical splint to (a fractured bone, etc.); to put into splints; to hold firmly in position, to secure, by means of a splint or splints.
| α 1543 Traheron tr. Vigo's Chirurg. vi. i. 181 b, Yf the dislocation be with a fracture,..after restauracion ye shall bynde it & splent it. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 143 b, Their legges, if they happen to be broken,..being wrapped first in wooll..and afterward splented. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. cxxxix. 442 Then splent it [a broken bone] with three broad, smooth, & strong splents. 1639 T. de la Grey Expert Farrier 243 Clap..over that a peece of leather cut and shaped for the purpose, and so splent it to keepe it fast on. 1648 Hexham ii. s.v. Spalcken. |
| β 1606 Bp. W. Barlow Serm. 21 Sept. B ij, To heale the infected, to splint the spreined, to reduce the wandring. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 152 The member being onely artificially bound, and splinted orderly. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Surbating, Stop up his Foot therewith,..covering it with a Piece of an old Shoe, and splint it. 1842 Burn Nav. & Milit. Dict. i. s.v. Attelle, To splint, to put on a splint. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. viii. (ed. 2) 303 If a broken limb be not splinted the ends may be forced through the skin. |
† b. To secure or keep
in (a dressing, etc.) with a splint or splints.
Obs. rare.
| 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. ci. 385 With a little tow stoppe all the foote, and especially the frush, and splent it in so as it may not fall out. |
c. fig. and
transf. To strengthen or support as if with splints.
| a 1634 Chapman Bussy d' Ambois v. iv. (1641) 70 An Emperour might die standing, why not I? Nay without help, in which I will exceed him; For he died splinted with his chamber Groomes. 1832 Examiner 721/2 He wants strength of character;—but authority will come in aid of his peculiar deficiency, and splint him up. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 108/2 Inner and outer layers of epithelial tissue, splinted by connective tissue.., are always developed. |
† d. To stop with a splint.
Obs.—0| 1648 Hexham ii, Spalcken den mondt, to Gagge or Splent the mouth. |
† 3. To cut or split (wood, etc.) into splints or splinters; to cleave or slit apart or
in two.
Obs.| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Desgajar, to cleaue a sunder, to slit, to splent. 1598 Florio, Schiantare,..to riue, to splint, to shiuer. 1600 Abbot Exp. Jonah iv. 68 He looketh whether any planke were rift or splint in two. |
† b. (See
quot.)
Obs.—1| 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 167 Where the Horse is young and fond of running, it would splint him, or knock him up (as we say) if the Rider were to make his Flourishes upon his Back like a Rope-dancer. |
† 4. intr. Of the heart: To burst or split.
Obs.—1| 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 55 Hard heart of mine why splintst? why breakst not thou? |