splint (plural splints)

1. A narrow#Adjective|narrow strip#Noun|strip of wood split#Verb|split or peel#Verb|peeled from a larger piece#Noun|piece.
2. (dentistry) A dental device applied consequent to undergoing orthodontia.
3. (medicine) A device to immobilize a body part#Noun|part.
   • 1899 September – 1900 July​, Joseph Conrad, chapter V, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, OCLC 8754022 ↗, pages 50–51 ↗:

     [...] I saw in the white men's ward that little chap tossing on his back, with his arm in splints, and quite light-headed.

4. (military, historical) A segment#Noun|segment of armour#Noun|armour consisting of a narrow overlapping#Adjective|overlapping plate#Noun|plate.
   • 1820, Walter Scott, chapter II, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662 ↗, page 25 ↗:

     The fore-part of his thighs, where the folds of his mantle permitted them to be seen, were also covered with linked mail; the knees and feet were defended by splints, or thin plates of steel, ingeniously jointed upon each other; and mail hose, reaching from the ancle to the knee, effectually protected the legs, and completed the rider's defensive armour.

5. (mining) Synonym of splent coal#English|splent coal
6. (zootomy) A bone#Noun|bone found on either side#Noun|side of a horse#Noun|horse's cannon bone; the second or fourth metacarpal (forelimb) or metatarsal (hindlimb) bone.
7. (zootomy, veterinary medicine) A disease#Noun|disease affect#Verb|affecting the splint bones, as a callosity or hard excrescence.

• French: éclisse
• Italian: scheggia, scaglia, frammento
• Russian: щепа́
• Spanish: férula

• French: attelle
• German: Schiene, Gipsschiene
• Italian: stecca, tutore
• Russian: ши́на
• Spanish: tablilla

• Italian: protesi

• Italian: lamella, piastra

• Italian: soprosso, schinella, spinella, esostosi

splint (splints, present participle splinting; past and past participle splinted)

1. (transitive) To apply a splint to; to fasten with splints.
2. To support one's abdomen with hands or a pillow before attempting to cough.
3. (obsolete, rare, transitive) To split into thin, slender pieces; to splinter.