quint

noun

ˈkwint 

plural quints

1

informal : quintuplet sense 2

Corinne, who was the smallest quint at birth—2 pounds, 14 ounces—is still the shortest.

—Chris Swingle

The natural birth rate for twins is 1 in 90; for quints it's around 1 in 65 million.

—Sara Kliff

2

: a jump (as in figure skating or skiing) that consists of at least five but less than six revolutions

… a Czech named Ales Valenta revolutionized the sport of freestyle aerials yesterday with a magical quint, five twists that earned him a spectacular score …

—Filip Bondy

Goebel … had already become the first U.S. skater to land a quad at the nationals … making them look so easy that his coach, Carol Heiss Jenkins, spoke of Goebel's someday doing a "quint."

—E. M. Swift

3

: a multi-purpose vehicle used by firefighters that includes a water tank, fire hose, pump, aerial ladder or platform, and portable ladders

Firefighters call it a "quint" because it combines five different functions, [David] Kinsey said. The truck carries a ladder, a hose, a pump with its own generator, a 400-gallon water tank and a 100-foot-long aerial tower.

—Jane Meinhardt

Over the next couple of years, aging engine and ladder trucks at the 10 lower-activity stations will be replaced with quints—fire trucks that carry ladders, water tank, pump, hoses and other rescue and fire suppression equipment.

—The Houston Chronicle

—often used before another noun

a quint fire truck

quint vehicles

Examples of quint in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The new addition will be roughly 17 months younger than the quints. —Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 20 Feb. 2024

Seven engines, one truck, two quints, one squad, one rescue responded to the fire along with a safety officer, two battalions, one assistant chief and a public information officer. —Howard Koplowitz | [e-mail], al, 6 June 2023

And some experts think a quint—a quintuple, or five-revolution, jump—is theoretically within reach. —Tanya Lewis, Scientific American, 14 Feb. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1934, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for quint

• clint
• dint
• glint
• hint
• lint
• mint
• print
• quinte
• splint
• sprint
• squint
• stint

Kids Definition

quint

noun

ˈkwint 

informal

: quintuplet sense 2

Medical Definition

quint

noun

ˈkwint 

informal : quintuplet