different between duty vs stint

English

Etymology

From Middle English duete, from Middle English dewe) + Middle English -te, (borrowed from Old French -te from Latin -t?tem, accusative masculine singular of -t?s). Akin to due + -ty (Alternative form of -ity).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?dju?ti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /du?ti/
• Rhymes: -u?ti
• Homophone: doody (for some speakers)

Noun

duty (countable and uncountable, plural duties)

1. That which one is morally or legally obligated to do.
   • 1805, 21 October, Horatio Nelson

     England expects that every man will do his duty.

   • Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
2. The state of being at work and responsible for or doing a particular task.

3. A tax placed on imports or exports; a tariff.

   customs duty; excise duty

4. (obsolete) One's due, something one is owed; a debt or fee.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XX:

     Take that which is thy duty, and goo thy waye.

5. (obsolete) Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage.
6. The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States).

Usage notes

• Adjectives often used with "duty": public, private, moral, legal, social, double, civic, contractual, political, judicial, etc.

Synonyms

• (that which one is obligated to do): obligation

Antonyms

• duty-free (taxes)
• (that which one is obligated to do): right

Derived terms

Related terms

• due

Translations

Further reading

• duty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• duty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• duty at OneLook Dictionary Search

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?dut?]

Participle

duty

1. past passive participle of du?

Declension

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt

Etymology 1

From Middle English stinten, from Old English styntan (“to make blunt”) and *stintan (attested in ?stintan (“to make dull, stint, assuage”)), from Proto-Germanic *stuntijan? and Proto-Germanic *stintan? (“to make short”), probably influenced in some senses by cognate Old Norse *stynta, stytta (“to make short, shorten”).

Verb

stint (third-person singular simple present stints, present participle stinting, simple past and past participle stinted)

1. (archaic, intransitive) To stop (an action); cease, desist.
   • 1460-1500, The Towneley Plays?

     We maun have pain that never shall stint.
2. (obsolete, intransitive) To stop speaking or talking (of a subject).
   • Late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales:

     Now wol I stynten of this Arveragus, / And speken I wole of Dorigen his wyf

3. (intransitive) To be sparing or mean.

   Synonym: skimp

4. (transitive) To restrain within certain limits; to bound; to restrict to a scant allowance.
   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies

     I shall not in the least go about to extenuate the Latitude of it: or to stint it only to the Produ?tion of Weeds, of Thorns, Thisiles, and other the less useful Kinds of Plants

   • 1729, William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life

     She stints them in their meals.

5. To assign a certain task to (a person), upon the performance of which he/she is excused from further labour for that day or period; to stent.
6. (of mares) To impregnate successfully; to get with foal.
   • 1861, John Henry Walsh, The Horse, in the Stable and the Field

     The majority of maiden mares will become stinted while at work.

Translations

Noun

stint (plural stints)

1. A period of time spent doing or being something; a spell.
2. Limit; bound; restraint; extent.

   • God has wrote upon no created thing the utmost stint of his power.

3. Quantity or task assigned; proportion allotted.
   • 1779, William Cowper, Retirement

     His old stint — three thousand pounds a year.

Translations

Etymology 2

Origin unknown.

Noun

stint (plural stints)

1. Any of several very small wading birds in the genus Calidris. Types of sandpiper, such as the dunlin or the sanderling.

Translations

Etymology 3

Noun

stint (plural stints)

1. Misspelling of stent (medical device).

Anagrams

• 'tisn't, it'sn't, tints

Westrobothnian

Alternative forms

• stunt
• stänt
• stejnt
• stönt
• stant

Etymology

Related to stött (“short,”) stynt (“to shorten.”)

Noun

stint f (definite & vocative stinta, vocative plural stinte)

1. A girl, i.e. an unmarried woman.

Declension

Synonyms

• gänt
• täus

Derived terms

• gamstint
• gjetarstint