Forms: 4–7 lynt(e, 5 lyn(n)et, 6 linte, 7 (9 dial.) linet, 5– lint. [In ME. linnet; related (somewhat obscurely) to LINE sb.1; perh. a. F. linette (recorded only in the sense ‘linseed,’ but possibly of wider meaning in OF.), f. lin LINE sb.1: see -ET.]
1. (Now only Sc.) The flax-plant.
1458. [see lint-sown in 5].
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes, 49. Linum is called in englishe Flax, lyne or lynte. Ibid. (1562), Herbal, II. 39. Flax is called of the Northen men lynt.
1733. P. Lindsay, Interest Scot., 154. Our present Way is to sow our Lint on any Ground, which puts us to a great Expence to weed it.
1785. Burns, Cotter’s Sat. Nt., xi. The frugal wifie garrulous will tell, How ’twas a towmond auld, sin’ lint was i’ the bell.
1805. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., IV. 29. Flax, or, as it is universally called in Scotland, lint, is sown.
2. (Chiefly Sc.) Flax prepared for spinning. Also, the refuse of the same, used as a combustible.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVII. 612. Pik and ter als haf thai tane, And lynt and hardiss with brynstane.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, iii. (Andreas), 593. Lynt to bet þe fyr of hell.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VII. 423. This trew woman thaim seruit weill in deid, With lynt and fyr, that haistely kendill wald.
1562. Durham Depos. (Surtees), 72. To pay the said Isabell every yere one bonde of lynt.
1591. Harington, Orl. Fur., XXXIV. lxxxvii. Each roome therein was full of divers fleeces Of wooll, of lint, of silk, or els of cotten.
1741. in A. Laing, Lindores Abbey, xxi. (1876), 272. For one hundred weight of lint to be given out to the poor people of the paroche to spin.
179[?]. Burns, Weary Pund o’ Tow, 5. I bought my wife a stane o’ lint As gude as e’er did grow; And a’ that she has made o’ that Is ae poor pund o’ tow.
1830. Scott, Demonol., ix. 330. It was at different times a brazier’s shop, and a magazine for lint.
3. A soft material for dressing wounds (formerly also to burn for tinder), prepared by ravelling or scraping linen cloth. In pl., pieces of this material.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 83. Fille þe wounde wiþinneforþ with lynnet of lynnen clooþ.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 306/1. Lynt, schauynge of lynen clothe, carpea.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xii. 333. The same … layde to with fine linte or lynnen, doth swage and mitigate the payne.
c. 1600[?]. Distracted Emp., V. iii. in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 249. May theire sore wast theire lynnen into lynte.
1612. W. Parkes, Curtaine-Dr. (1876), 55. Let him but finde the least sparke in the lint, hee neuer ceaseth blowing till he haue made it a huge flame.
1622. Beaum. & Fl., Sea-Voy., III. i. O that I had my boxes and my lints now.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, III. x. 498. Very much weakened with ten great wounds, and roul’d up with Lints and Plaisters.
1707. Farquhar, Beaux Stratagem, V. iv. Do, do, Daughter—while I get the Lint, and the Probe and the Plaister ready.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 189. Lint or Puff-ball, moistened in Alcohol Vini … will generally answer the purpose.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, ii. He … hastily took from his purse some dry lint, to apply to the slight wound.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Charmed Sea, iv. 51. To scrape lint and nurse the wounded was proper woman’s employment down in Poland yonder.
1884. M. Mackenzie, Dis. Throat & Nose, II. 63. Drainage [of the abscess] was kept up by means of a strip of lint.
b. Fluff of any material. † Also, a particle of the same. rare.
1611. Cotgr., Freluche,… a small straw, or lint.
a. 1663. Howard, Committee, II. i. Four Plays (1665), 88. Driving the lint from his black Cloathes With his Wet Thumb.
1898. Martha L. Phillips, in Century Mag., Jan., 372/2. After a little the saws clogged with lint, the wheel stopped, and poor Whitney was in despair.
4. a. Now only dial. or U.S. Netting for fishing-nets. † b. A net for the hair. Obs. rare–1.
a. 1615. E. S., Britain’s Buss, in Arb., Garner, III. 629. Which 245 yards of Lint or Netting (ready made or knit) will cost three pence a yard.
1874. Holdsworth, Deep-Sea Fishing, ii. 101. That length of line being appropriated to the 30 yards of [drift-]net, so that the ‘lint’ or netting is set slack.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Lint (Fishing), a fisherman’s name for the netting of a pound or seine.
1892. P. H. Emerson, Son of Fens, 37. They ligged the ground rope in, and begun pulling in the lint to the cod end.
b. a. 1828. Ld. Livingston, xxxii. in Child, Ballads, IV. 433/2. There’s never lint gang on my head.
5. attrib. and Comb., as lint-boll (-bow), -mill, -pad, -sheaf, -speck; lint-sown ppl. a.; lint-box (U.S.), the upper part of a cotton-press; lint-doctor Calico-printing (see quot.); lint-haired = flaxen-haired; lint-paper, ? = linen-paper; lint-scraper, a person employed to scrape lint (for hospital use); also (slang), a contemptuous name for a young surgeon; † lint-spurge, a name proposed for the plant Euphorbia Esula; lint-top (Sc. -tap), as much flax as is usually laid on a distaff for being spun off. Also LINT-WHITE a.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., VIII. (Preach. Swallow), xxvii. Me think, quhen that yone *lint-bollis ar ryip, To mak ws feist.
a. 1585. Polwart, Flyting w. Montgomerie, 552. Athort his nitty now Ilke louse lyes linkand like a large lint bow.
1901. G. W. Cable, Cavalier, xxi. The *lint-box of the old cotton-press was covered with wet morning-glories.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 217. Another … sharp-edged ruler, called the *lint doctor, whose office it is to remove any fibres which may have come off the calico in the act of printing.
1891. V. C. Cotes, Two Girls on Barge, 78. A dirty *lint-haired ragamuffin.
1805. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., IV. 49. Upon this water there are … two *lint-mills.
1879. St. George’s Hosp. Rep., IX. 482. Wet *lint-pad and bandage applied.
1794. Blumenbach, in Phil. Trans., LXXXIV. 180. The outward ones had some traces of our common *lint paper.
1861. Thackeray, Lovel, vi. (1869), 241. If Miss Prior … prefers this *lint-scraper to me, ought I to baulk her?
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 48. Lint Scraper.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 168. Some persons … recommend to set up the *lint sheaves … in stooks, like grain.
1458. Extracts Burgh Rec. Peebles (1872), 128. Al the wast land that was *lynt or corn sawin.
1827–35. Willis, Parrhasius, 53. The *lint-specks floated in the twilight air.
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes (E. D. S.), 63. Pityusa … oughte to be called … *Lint-spourge, for it hath smal leaues like Flax.
1721. Ramsay, Bessy Bell & Mary G., ii. Bessy’s hair’s like a *lint tap.
