tine

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tine"

English

The tines of a fork (1)

Etymology 1

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪn
• Homophone: Tyne

Noun

tine (plural tines)

1. A spike or point on an implement or tool, especially a prong of a fork or a tooth of a comb.
   • 1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan the Untamed:

     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.

   • 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 9, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, pages 45–46:

     Sitting at the table one day, I held the fork in my left hand and pierced a piece of fried chicken. I put the knife through the second tine, as we had been strictly taught, and began to saw against the bone.

2. A small branch, especially on an antler or horn.
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XXVII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

     “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: […]

   • 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The White Company, New York, N.Y.; Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC:

     “By my faith, sirs,” he continued, half turning in his saddle to address his escort, “unless my woodcraft is sadly at fault, it is a stag of six tines and the finest that we have roused this journey.

3. (dialect) A wild vetch or tare.

Derived terms

• tine test
• tres-tine

Translations

prong — see also prong,‎ tooth

• Bulgarian: зъб (bg) m (zăb), острие (bg) n (ostrie)
• Catalan: pua (ca) f, pollegó m
• Czech: hrot (cs) m, zub (cs) m, špička (cs) f
• Danish: tand (da) c
• Dutch: punt (nl) m
• Finnish: piikki (fi), kärki (fi), pii (fi)
• French: dent (fr) m, fourchon (fr) m
• Galician: galla f, dente (gl) m
• German: Zinke (de) f, Pickel (de) m, Dorn (de) m, Zacke (de) f, Zahn (de) m, Zinken (de) m, Stift (de) m, Zacken (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: στόρθυγξ m or f (stórthunx)

• Icelandic: tönn (is) f
• Italian: rebbio (it) m, dente (it) m, punta (it) f
• Macedonian: забец m (zabec)
• Māori: kātara
• Norwegian: tann (no) f or m
• Old English: tind m
• Polish: ząb (pl) m
• Portuguese: dente (pt) m
• Russian: зубе́ц (ru) m (zubéc)
• Swedish: tand (sv) c
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: چاتال (çatal)

• Volapük: (fork) fokatuit
• Welsh: dant (cy) m

on antler

• Bulgarian: разклонение (bg) n (razklonenie)
• Czech: výsada f
• Danish: tak (da) c
• Finnish: haara (fi)
• French: andouiller (fr) m
• German: Ende (de) n, Sprosse (de) f, Sprießel m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: στόρθυγξ m or f (stórthunx)

• Spanish: candil (es) m
• Swedish: tagg (sv) c
• Volapük: tuit (vo)

See also

• prong
• tooth
• tool

Etymology 2

Unknown, possibly related to etymology 1.

Alternative forms

• tyne

Adjective

tine (comparative tiner, superlative tinest)

1. small, diminutive

Derived terms

• tiny

Etymology 3

See teen (“affliction”).

Noun

tine

1. (obsolete) Trouble; distress; teen.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     As wither'd Weed through cruel Winter's Tine

   • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 172:

     And now has brave Sir Thynnè,
     Escaped all sorrow and tine;
     Now sleeps she sweet full many a sleep,
     On brave Sir Thynnè's arm.

Etymology 4

See tind.

Verb

tine (third-person singular simple present tines, present participle tining, simple past and past participle tined)

1. (obsolete) To kindle; to set on fire.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Coals of contention and hot vengeance tin'd.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     The Air attrite to Fire, as late the Clouds / Juſtling or puſht with Winds rude in thir ſhock / Tine the ſlant Lightning, […]

   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC:

     The priest with holy hands was seen to tine / The cloven wood, and pour the ruddy wine.

2. (obsolete) To rage; to smart.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Ne was there salve, ne was there medicine, / That mote recure their wounds; so inly they did tine.

Etymology 5

From Middle English tynen, from Old English tȳnan, from tūn (“enclosure”) (modern town).

Verb

tine (third-person singular simple present tines, present participle tining, simple past and past participle tined)

1. (archaic) To shut in, or enclose.
   • 1852, Alfred the Great, translated by Alfred Committee, The Whole Works of King Alfred the Great, volume II, page 388:

     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; […]

   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:

     “Terrible trying,” said Oak. “I’ve been wet through twice a-day, either in snow or rain, this last fortnight. Cainy and I haven’t tined our eyes to-night.”

Derived terms

• betine

Anagrams

• Tien, neti, nite, tein

Aromanian

Pronoun

tine

1. alternative form of tini

Cypriot Arabic

Etymology

Inherited from Arabic تِينَة (tīna).

Noun

tine f (plural tinát)

1. fig tree

References

• Borg, Alexander (2004), A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic–English) (Handbook of Oriental Studies; I.70), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 178

Irish

Tine i nDroichead Chaisleán Loiste

Alternative forms

• teine (superseded)
• tinidh

Etymology

From Old Irish teine, from Proto-Celtic *teɸnets, from Proto-Indo-European *tep- (“hot”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʲinʲə/
• (Ulster) see: tinidh

Noun

tine f (genitive singular tine or tineadh, nominative plural tinte or tinteacha)

1. fire

Declension

Standard inflection (fourth declension):

Declension of tine (fourth declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative tine tinte vocative a thine a thinte genitive tine tinte dative tine tinte forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an tine na tinte genitive na tine na dtinte dative leis an tine don tine leis na tinte

Alternative inflection (fifth declension):

Declension of tine (fifth declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative tine tinte vocative a thine a thinte genitive tineadh tinte dative tine tinidh (archaic, dialectal) tinte forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an tine na tinte genitive na tineadh na dtinte dative leis an tine leis an tinidh (archaic, dialectal) don tine don tinidh (archaic, dialectal) leis na tinte

• Alternative plurals: tinteacha; tintreacha (Cois Fharraige)

Derived terms

• le thine (“on fire”)
• lus tine m (“fire-weed, rose-bay willow-herb”)
• tine chreasa
• tine ealaíne (“firework”)
• tine Fhéile Eoin
• tine ghealáin (“phosphorescence”)
• tine leictreach (“electric fire”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of tine

radical	lenition	eclipsis
tine	thine	dtine

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• A. Palandri, Ú. Bhreathnach, M. Měchura, G. Ó Cleircín, and B. Ó Raghallaigh, (2026), “tine”, in Taisce Chanúintí na Gaeilge - Repository of Irish Dialects‎^[1] (in Irish and English), Dublin City University
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904), “teine”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla [Irish and English Dictionary], 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 730
• “tine”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “tine”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Latin

Noun

tīne

1. vocative singular of tīnus

Middle English

Determiner

tine (subjective pronoun þou)

1. (chiefly Northern and Northeast Midland) alternative form of þin (“thy”)

Pronoun

tine (subjective þou)

1. (chiefly Northern and Northeast Midland) alternative form of þin (“thine”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse þíðna.

Alternative forms

• tina (a-infinitive)

Verb

tine (present tense tinar/tiner, past tense tina/tinte, past participle tina/tint, passive infinitive tinast, present participle tinande, imperative tine/tin)

1. (ambitransitive) to thaw

Etymology 2

Through French from Latin tina (“wine-vessel”). Akin to Danish tejne.

Noun

tine f (definite singular tina, indefinite plural tiner, definite plural tinene)

1. a traditional bentwood box

Etymology 3

From Old Norse tína.

Alternative forms

• tina (a-infinitive)

Verb

tine (present tense tiner, past tense tinte, past participle tint, passive infinitive tinast, present participle tinande, imperative tin)

1. to pluck or rattle to remove fish from a fishing net
2. to remove the awn from the grain
3. to extract a nut from its shell

References

• “tine” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• eint, -inet, IT-en, nite, tein, tien, Tine

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈti.ne/
• Rhymes: -i.ne

Noun

tine

1. dative singular of tin

Portuguese

Verb

tine

1. inflection of tinir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Romanian

Alternative forms

• ти́нє — pre-1860s Cyrillic spelling
• tn — Internet slang, text messaging

Etymology

Inherited from Latin tē, as with mine, sine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈti.ne/

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

tine (stressed accusative form of tu)

1. (direct object, preceded by preposition, such as pe, cu, la, or pentru) you

   te iubesc pe tine

   I love you

Related terms

• te (unstressed form)

See also

• mine
• sine

Romanian personal pronouns

number	person			nominative	stressed		unstressed
					accusative	dative	accusative	dative
singular
	1st			eu	mine	mie	mă	îmi
	2nd	plain		tu	tine	ție	te	îți
		semi-polite		dumneata		dumitale
		polite		dumneavoastră			vă
	3rd	plain	m	el	e	lui	îl	îi
			f	ea		ei	o
		polite	m	dumnealui			îl
			f	dumneaei			o
plural
	1st			noi		nouă	ne
	2nd	plain		voi		vouă	vă
		polite		dumneavoastră
	3rd	plain	m	ei		lor	îi	le
			f	ele			le
		polite	m	dumnealor			îi
			f				le

Yola

Alternative forms

• theene

Etymology

From Middle English tynen, from Old English tȳnan. Cognate with English teen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tiːn/, /t̪iːn/

Verb

tine

1. to shut, close
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Tine a dher.

     Close the door.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 72