Hint

Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary web : https://eddonline4-proj.uibk.ac.at/edd/main.html

HINT, v.1 and sb. Sc. Irel. Also in form hent Or.I. [hint.] 1. v. With about or after: to watch quietly; to go about in a quiet, sly manner. Bnff.1 To go about having an eye to one's own interest. ‘He's eye hintin' aboot, an' fa's in wee mony a gueede bargain.’ ‘She... hints aboot aifter 'im a' wye it he gangs t'keep 'im fae the drink.’ Abd. Ye robins hintin teet aboot Fending the frost, Tarras Poems (1804) 44 (Jam.). 2. To teach quietly, to suggest or indicate slightly. Sc. The fear o' the Lord I sal hint ye, Waddell Psalms (1871) xxxiv. 11. 3. sb. An opportunity, occasion; a rôle. Abd. Sae look about you ere the hint be past, Ross Helenore (1768) 114, ed. 1812. Ags. One asks a hint of a book or an opportunity of running over it (Jam.). Ir. At their first presentation it was their ‘hint’ to fall up their knees and ask his blessing, Paddiana (ed. 1848) I. 285. 4. A moment of time, a minute. Sh.&Ork.1 Or.I. In a hent the grind-keepers Their grinds wide open threw, J. Gilpin, st. 30, in Ellis Pronunc. (1889) V. 807. Cai.1 Abd. He sprang, And in a hint he claspt her hard and fast, Ross Helenore (1768) 107, ed. 1812.

HINT, v.2 Sc. 1. To disappear quickly, to vanish; in pass. to be lost. Sh.I. Whin a body lays a thing oot o der haand i' dis hoos, hit's da sam' as if hit wis hinted, Sh. News (Jan. 8, 1898); Sh.&Ork.1 2. With back: to start back. Frf. While his lithe figure rose and fell as he cast and hinted back from the crystal waters, Barrie M. Ogilvy (1896) 147; In gen. use (J.B.).

HINT, v.3 Cai.1 To throw a stone in a peculiar way. Practised by country boys, the hand holding the stone being struck sharply against the thigh.

HINT, v.4 Wor. Glo. Hmp. Wil. Also in form hent Glo. [int.] To carry and stow in a barn. See Hent, v.2 s.Wor. ‘Well-hinted’ hay is such as has been ‘well-caught,’ ‘well-harvested,’ not such as has been badly caught by catching weather (H.K.). Glo. I have hented or hinted my corn well this year. This barley was well hented, or saved, Horae Subsecivae (1777) 210. Hmp.1 Wil. Davis Agric. (1813) I. 36, ed. 1888; Wil.1 Never zeed a better crop o' wheat, if so be [it] could be hinted well.

HINT, v.5 Som. Also in form hent. [int, ent.] To wither, to become slightly dry; also used trans. A man would be told to ‘hint’ the vetches before giving them to cattle; weeds are said to ‘hint’ when exposed to the sun (W.F.R.); Jennings Obs. Dial. w.Eng. (1825); W. & J. Gl. (1873).

HINT, see Hent, v.4, Hind, adj., Hunt.