Faint vs Haint - What's the difference?
faint | haint |
Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to swoon; as, faint with fatigue, hunger, or thirst.
Wanting in courage, spirit, or energy; timorous; cowardly; dejected; depressed.
Lacking distinctness; hardly perceptible; striking the senses feebly; not bright, or loud, or sharp, or forcible; weak; as, a faint color, or sound.
Performed, done, or acted, in a weak or feeble manner; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy; slight; as, faint efforts; faint resistance.
* Sir J. Davies
* 2005 , .
To lose consciousness. Caused by a lack of oxygen or nutrients to the brain, usually as a result of a suddenly reduced blood flow (may be caused by emotional trauma, loss of blood or various medical conditions).
* Bible, Mark viii. 8
* Guardian
To sink into dejection; to lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent.
* Bible, Proverbs xxiv. 10
To decay; to disappear; to vanish.
* Alexander Pope
(US, dialectal)
* 1988 , Randy Russell, Janet Barnett, Dead Dan's Shadow on the Wall'', in ''Mountain Ghost Stories and Curious Tales of Western North Carolina ,
* 2003 , Winson Hudson, Derrick Bell, Constance Curry, Mississippi Harmony: Memoirs of a Freedom Fighter ,
* 2003 , W. Bruce Wingo, There Grows a Crooked Tree ,
(US, dialectal) Ghost.
* 2005', "The Four-Legged '''Haint " by Eulie Rowan, in ''The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs , Simon and Schuster,
* 2009 , Mary Monroe, God Still Don't Like Ugly'',
As nouns the difference between faint and haint
is that faint is the act of fainting while haint is (us|dialectal) ghost.As verbs the difference between faint and haint
is that faint is to lose consciousness caused by a lack of oxygen or nutrients to the brain, usually as a result of a suddenly reduced blood flow (may be caused by emotional trauma, loss of blood or various medical conditions) while haint is (us|dialectal).As an adjective faint
is lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to swoon; as, faint with fatigue, hunger, or thirst.As a contraction haint is
(lb).faint
English
Adjective
(er)- "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady." Robert Burns - To Dr. Blackjack.
- the faint prosecution of the war
- do you have the faintest understanding of what they mean?
Derived terms
* damn with faint praiseVerb
(en verb)- If I send them away fasting they will faint by the way.
- Hearing the honour intended her, she fainted away.
- If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
- Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before the eye.
Synonyms
* pass out * queal * swoonExternal links
* * *Anagrams
* * ----haint
English
Etymology 1
Verb
(en verb)page 5,
- Looking from juror to juror and seeking out the smug faces of the witnesses who'd testified against him, he repeated his threat. "Those who say I kilt anybody are liars," he proclaimed. "And each of you will be hainted every day for the rest of your life. Then the devil will have ye."
page 17,
- After he killed him, Ed came back and he didn't have no head and he hainted [haunted] Ole Master until he died himself — getting in his way all the time — Ole Ed would be right there with him.
page 92,
- “I just don't think it happened that way,” he argued. “Otherwise, the ghost wouldn't still be hainting the tree.”
Noun
(en noun)p. 106:
- It didn't take long for word to spread that there was a "haint'" in the graveyard. A ' haint is what the old-timers called a ghost.
page 211,
- My dead grandpa's haint floated above my bed one night when I was a young'un and scared me so bad I busted the bedroom door down tryin' to get out that room so fast.
