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 nouna quint fire truck
quint vehicles
Cite this Entry
“Quint.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quint. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.
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