What does "dint" mean?

Dint: The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent. Dryden. Every dint a sword had beaten in it [the shield]. Tennyson.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Force; power; -- esp. in the phrase by dint of. Now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel The dint of pity. Shak. It was by dint of passing strength That he moved the massy stone at length. Sir W. Scott.
  2. 3.To make a mark or cavity on or in, by a blow or by pressure; to dent. Donne. Tennyson.

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