flint

IPA/flɪnt/
KK[flˈɪnt]IPA/flɪnt/

flint — noun

  • flintsingular
  • flintsplural

1. a very hard dark stone with a glassy surface, often used in the past for tools o

1.nounC2
Definition

a very hard dark stone with a glassy surface, often used in the past for tools or for making sparks

Example

Nicholas struck the flint against steel to start the campfire.

strike flint against steel

Min found a sharp piece of flint near the dry riverbed.

a piece of flint

Common collocations
  • piece of flint
  • flint tools
  • black flint
  • strike flint
Synonyms
  • stone

    is a broad everyday word, while flint names one particular hard kind of stone

  • rock

    is even more general and does not suggest the glassy, spark-making quality of flint

Grammar Patterns

a piece of flint

flint tools

flint in the ground

Usage Note

Often refers either to the stone as a material or to one piece of it. It commonly appears in contexts about old tools, fire-making, or land with chalk and hard stones.

Common Mistakes

The hill is full of many flints.
The hill is full of flint.
When you mean the stone as a material in the ground, flint is often uncountable.

2. the small part in an old gun or a lighter that makes the spark needed to fire it

2.nounC2
Definition

the small part in an old gun or a lighter that makes the spark needed to fire it or start a flame

Example

Leo changed the flint in his lighter before the mountain trip.

change the flint in a lighter

The old gun would not fire because the flint was worn down.

flint in an old gun

Common collocations
  • lighter flint
  • replace the flint
  • spare flint
  • worn flint

Grammar Patterns

change the flint in a lighter

lighter flint

worn flint

Usage Note

Usually appears with lighter or old gun. In modern everyday English it most often means the small replaceable part inside a lighter, not the natural stone in sense 1.

Common Mistakes

The lighter needs a new stone.
The lighter needs a new flint.
In a lighter, flint means the small spark-making part, not just any stone.

Etymology

First known use

12th century

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1