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▪ I. dent, n.1|dɛnt|
[A phonetic variant or collateral form of dint, OE. dynt; in sense 4 app. influenced by indent and its family, and thus connected with dent n.2]
†1. A stroke or blow, esp. with a weapon or sharp instrument: usually a blow dealt in fighting (= dint n. 1). Obs.
c1325Coer de L. 291 With a dente amyd the schelde. c1350Will. Palerne 1215 Ac he wiþ douȝti dentes defended him long. c1435Torr. Portugal 915 Ther schalle no knyght come nere hond, Fore dred of denttes ylle. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 272 The dent of deth is hevyar than led. c1570Preston Cambyses in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 215 He shall die by dent of sword. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. vi. 15 Plates yrent, Shew'd all his bodie bare unto the cruell dent. 1603Drayton Odes xvii. 95 And many a cruell Dent Bruised his Helmet.
†b. A ‘stroke’ or clap of thunder; a thunderbolt. Obs.
a1300Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright) 147 The liȝting, That..cometh after the dente. c1320Sir Beues 2738 A made a cri and a wonder, Ase hit were a dent of þonder. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 621 As gret as it had ben a thundir dent. c1430Lydg. Bochas viii. i. (1554) 177 b, By stroke of thundre dent And fyry lightning.
†2. Striking, dealing of blows; vigorous wielding of the sword or other weapon (= dint n. 2).
a1400Octouian 1555 Here son was doughty knyght of dente. 1548Hall Chron. 41 b, With mortal warre and dent of sworde. 1556J. Heywood Spider & F. lix. 32 To subdew the flies by the swoords dent. a1600Tourn. Tottenham 48 For to wynne my doȝter wyth dughtynesse of dent.
†b. Striking distance, range or reach of stroke (= dint n. 2 d). Obs.
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 78 There is no birde that escapeth him that commeth in his dent, but she is his owne.
†3. = dint. Obs.
1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 3, I am sturred by dent of Christian dutie.
4. A hollow or impression in a surface, such as is made by a blow with a sharp or edged instrument; an indentation, dint.
1565Jewel Repl. Harding Wks. (1611) 425 We haue thrust our fingers into the dents of his nailes. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. 16 Mark it with a dent with the nayle, or a pricke with a pen. 1620Shelton Quix. iv. xix. II. 233 O the most noble and obedient Squire that ever had Sword at a Girdle..or Dent in a Nose. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. viii, Taking his Hammer, he again beat out the dent. 1722Chamberlayne in Phil. Trans. XXXII. 98 The fat Particles had such a Pinch, or Dent, in them, as I have shewn, that there were in the Globules of Flower of Wheat. 1848Thoreau Maine W. i. (1867) 51 The rocks..were covered with the dents made by the spikes in the lumberers' boots. 1857Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life, Janet's Repentance ii, Dents and disfigurements in an old family tankard.
Add:[4.] b. fig. A more or less significant impression made upon some situation or state of affairs, esp. by gradual, continued effort; a (detrimental) reducing effect or reduction. Freq. in phr. to make (also put) a dent in. colloq.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §243/6 Dent, nick, make a dent or nick in, to make a showing or impression, make some progress. 1949Reader's Digest Mar. 61/1 General Omar Bradley..was unable to make a dent in the imperturbable bureaucracy of other divisions. 1965Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 10 June (1970) 286 We can work on domestic problems and make a dent—a rather wonderful dent—but the great world is more complex. 1985Times 11 July 15/2 There is going to be a dent in our profits. But they will by no means be wiped out. 1986N.Y. Post 9 July 56/4 It took the Statue of Liberty party to put a dent in the New York Bight bluefishing.
▪ II. dent, n.2
[a. F. dent tooth; but sense 1 perh. originated as an extension of sense 4 of prec. n., under the influence of the Fr. word, or of indent and its family.]
†1. An indentation in the edge of anything; in pl. applied both to the incisions and the projections or teeth between them. Obs.
1552Huloet, Dentes about a leafe lyke a saw, crenæ. 1660H. Bloome Archit. A a, Denticuli, a broad plinth in the cornish cut with dents. 1700Dryden Fables, Cock & Fox 50 High was his comb, and coral-red withal, In dents embattl'd like a castle-wall.
2. A tooth, in various technical uses:
a. A burnishing tool used by gilders: sometimes an actual tooth. ? Obs. b. Weaving. One of the splits or parallel strips of metal, cane, etc. forming the reed of a loom. c. Carding. The wire staple that forms the tooth of a card. d. A tooth in a gear-wheel, or in the works of a lock.
1703T. S. Art's Improv. 51 This is commonly practised upon Black and Coloured Wood, Polishing them with a Dent. 1831G. R. Porter Silk Manuf. 221 This saves the labour of passing the new threads through the mails and dents of the reed. 1846G. White Treat. Weaving 53 The reed is made to contain a certain number of dents or splits in a given space. 1894Textile Manuf. 15 May 196 The satin may be reeded four in a dent if desired.
▪ III. dent, n.3 local.
A tough clay or soft claystone; esp. that found in the joints and fissures of sandstone or other strata.
1864A. Jeffrey Hist. Roxburghshire IV. iii. 162 The walls of these houses..were cemented with pounded dent.
▪ IV. dent, ppl. a.
[Short for dented.]
†1. Embossed [see dent v. 3]. Obs.
c1450Golagros & Gaw. 66 The sylour deir of the deise dayntely wes dent With the doughtyest in thair dais dyntis couth dele.
†2. Her. = indented. Obs.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry i. v. (1660) 27 Wrapt with dent bordure silver shining.
3. dent corn: a variety of Indian corn having a dent or depression in each kernel. Also ellipt. (See also quot. 1909.) U.S.
1853Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. V. 125 The land..was planted..with the ‘Indian Yellow Dent’. 1873Trans. Dep. Agric. Illinois X. 77 The Dent Corns—White and Yellow Dent, Large White, and Yellow Dent. 1909W. Bateson Mendel's Princ. Heredity 264 According as the seeds [of maize] are opaque or semi-transparent, the varieties are distinguished as ‘Dent’ or ‘Flint’. 1950New Biol. VIII. 37 Dent or field corns..are flinty with soft starch extending from the base to the tip of the kernels.
▪ V. dent, v.
[A variant of dint v.: see dent n.1]
1. trans. To make a dent in, as with a blow upon a surface; to mark with a dent or dents; to indent.
1388,1398[see denting vbl. n. 2, 1]. c1440Promp. Parv. 118 Dentyn or yndentyn, indento. 1530Palsgr. 511/2, I dente, Jenfondre..se howe it hath dented in his harnesse. 1559Sackville Induct. xii. 7 So dented were her cheekes with fall of teares. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. viii, With which blow it was not broken but dented. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 161 Jumping upon it with the Heals of ones Shooes will dent it. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. iii. (1879) 62 The fragments had been blown off with force sufficient to dent the wall. 1881M. E. Braddon Asph. I. 294 Armour that had been battered and dented at Cressy.
2. To imprint, impress, implant with a stroke or impact.
c1450Golagros & Gaw. 824 Suppose his dyntis be deip dentit in your scheild. 1533Bellenden Livy iii. (1822) 246 This yoik wes maid of thre speris, of quhilkis twa war dentit in the erde. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. II. 407 The tracks of horses' hoofs deeply dented in the road.
†3. To emboss, set, inlay. Obs.
c1440Bone Flor. 326 The pyllers that stonde in the halle, Are dentyd wyth golde and clere crystalle. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 667 Dyamountes full dantely dentit betwene.
4. intr.
a. To enter or sink in, so as to make a dent or indentation.
b. To become indented, as a plastic surface when pressed with something pointed or edged.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lix. (1495) 274 Yf thou thrystest thy fyngere vpon the postume it denteth in. Ibid. xvii. lxxiv. 648 Yf the fynger dynteth in therto and finde it nesshe. 1611Stafford Niobe 40 His cheekes, denting-in, as if he were still sucking at a bottle. 1869Eng. Mech. 3 Dec. 271/1 You will see it dent, for it is elastic.
†5. To aim a penetrating blow (at). Obs.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 373 So my heart..dented at with y⊇ arrowes of thy burning affections.
Add:[1.] b. fig. To have an (esp. adverse) effect upon; to damage or weaken. colloq.
1931Daily Express 21 Sept. 3/7 Mr. Somerset Maugham's novel, ‘The Painted Veil’, made a deep impression on me. The play of the same name..dented me but slightly. 1948E. Pound Pisan Cantos (1949) lxxxii. 116 In that Fordie Never dented an idea for a phrase's sake. 1977Kuwait Times 1 Nov. 7/3 West Germany's past economic success is now also denting her all-important export performance. 1986Daily Tel. 8 Aug. 15/4 Dobbs' credibility in this respect..is somewhat dented by the fact that he is himself a Saatchi man. |