splint

Meanings

Noun

• A narrow strip of wood split or peeled from a larger piece.
• A dental device applied consequent to undergoing orthodontia.
• A device to immobilize a body part.
• A segment of armour consisting of a narrow overlapping plate.
• Synonym of splent coal
• A bone found on either side of a horse's cannon bone; the second or fourth metacarpal (forelimb) or metatarsal (hindlimb) bone.
• A disease affecting the splint bones, as a callosity or hard excrescence.

Verb

• To apply a splint to; to fasten with splints.
• To support one's abdomen with hands or a pillow before attempting to cough.
• To split into thin, slender pieces; to splinter.

Origin

• Image:Carpal tunnel splint.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Wrist splint
• From Middle English splint, splent, splente, from Middle Low German splinte, splente or Middle Dutch splint, splinte. Cognate with Old High German splinza. All ultimately from Proto-Germanic *splintǭ, *splintō, from Proto-Germanic *splint-, *splind-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley-.