flints

Noun

flint (countable and uncountable, plural flints)

1. (uncountable) A hard, fine-grained quartz that fractures conchoidally and generates sparks when struck against a material such as steel, because tiny chips of the steel are heated to incandescence and burn in air.
   • He used flint to make a fire.
2. A piece of flint, such as a gunflint, used to produce a spark by striking it with a firestriker.
   • He used a flint to make a fire.
3. A small cylinder of some other material of the same function in a cigarette lighter, etc.
4. A variety of maize/corn with a hard outer hull.
5. (figuratively) Anything figuratively hard.
6. (UK, obsolete, slang) A tailor's employee who is paid by the day.

See all 19 meanings of flint