Etymology From Middle English dint, dent, dünt, from Old English dynt (“dint, blow, strike, stroke, bruise, stripe; the mark left by a blow; the sound or noise made by a blow, thud”), from Proto-Germanic *duntiz (“a blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- (“to strike, hit”). Cognate with Swedish dialectal dunt, Icelandic dyntr (“a dint”). Doublet of dent.
1
Especially in by dint of: force, power.
O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel / The dint of pity1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
It was by dint of passing strength / That he moved the massy stone at length.1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XVIII:
2
The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent.
[D]epe wͭ dynt the ſword enforced furſt / had ranſakt through his ribs ⁊ ſwete whyte breſt at once had burſt.1560 April 13 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Virgil, “The Nynth Boke”, in Thomas Phaer, transl., The Nyne Fyrst Bookes of the Eneidos of Virgil Converted into Englishe Vearse […], with So Muche of the Tenthe Booke, as since His Death coulde be Founde in Vnperfit Papers at His House in Kilgarran Forest in Penbroke Shyre, London: […] Rouland Hall, for Nicholas Englande, published 1562, →OCLC, signatures Ee.i., recto – Ee.i., verso:
His hands had made a dint, and hurt his maid; / Explored her limb by limb, and feared to find / So rude a gripe had left a livid mark behind.1717, John Dryden [et al.], “Book 10”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
1 more example
[A]nd read the naked shield, […] Of every dint a sword had beaten in it, / And every scratch a lance had made upon it1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Lancelot and Elaine”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; VI), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC:
3
Obsolete A blow, stroke, especially dealt in a fight.
Much daunted with that dint, her sence was dazd […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
Between them cross-bows stood, and engines wrought / To cast a stone, a quarry, or a dart, // From whence, like thunder's dint, or lightnings new, / Against the bulwarks stones and lances flew.1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Eleuenth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 31:
Etymology From Middle English dinten, from the noun. Compare Old Norse dynta.
1
To dent.
Your helmet was dinted in as if by a great shot.1854, W. Harrison Ainsworth, The Star-Chamber, Volume 2:
And, in that moment came one, fierce and wild of aspect, in dinted casque and rusty mail who stood and watched--ah God!1915, Jeffery Farnol, Beltane The Smith: