1. A thin piece split off from a larger piece; a splinter. 2a. A rigid device used to prevent motion of a joint or of the ends of a fractured bone. b. A dental appliance put on the teeth to protect them from grinding or from moving out of place. 3. A thin, flexible wooden strip, such as one used in the making of baskets or chair bottoms. 4. A plate or strip of metal. 5. A bony enlargement of the cannon bone or splint bone of a horse.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
Inflected forms: splint·ed, splint·ing, splints To support or restrict with or as if with a splint.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German splinte.
spl
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