Tine
adj, name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A spike or point on an implement or tool, especially a prong of a fork or a tooth of a comb.
"The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were of the same material as the smaller vessels."
- 2 Trouble; distress; teen. obsolete
"As wither'd Weed through cruel Winter's Tine"
- 3 prong on a fork or pitchfork or antler wordnet
- 4 A small branch, especially on an antler or horn.
"“I answer not the challenge of my prisoner,” said Front-de-Bœuf; “nor shalt thou, Maurice de Bracy.—Giles,” he continued, “hang the franklin’s glove upon the tine of yonder branched antlers:[…]"
- 5 A wild vetch or tare. dialectal
- 1 To kindle; to set on fire. obsolete
"Coals of contention and hot vengeance tin'd."
- 2 To shut in, or enclose. archaic
"When I was then surrounded on every side by the fiends, and tined about by the blindness of the darkness, then hove I my eyes up and looked hither and yond, whether any help were to come to me, that I might be rescued; […]"
- 3 To rage; to smart. obsolete
"Ne was there salve, ne was there medicine, / That mote recure their wounds; so inly they did tine."
- 1 small, diminutive
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were of the same material as the smaller vessels."
Etymology
From Middle English tine, alteration of Middle English tinde, tind, from Old English tind, from Proto-West Germanic *tind, Proto-Germanic *tindaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dénts (“tooth, peg”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tiende, Tiene (“prong, tine”), German Zind, Zint (“prong”). Compare also the related English tind and German Zinne.
Unknown, possibly related to etymology 1.
See teen (“affliction”).
See tind.
From Middle English tynen, from Old English tȳnan, from tūn (“enclosure”) (modern town).
Various origins: * Borrowed from Italian Tinè, a surname predominantly found in Sicily. * An English surname, variant of Tyne. * An Americanized spelling of the German surname Thein.
Related phrases
More for "tine"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.