stint

/stɪnt/

/stɪŋ/

Other forms: stinted; stints; stinting

The noun stint means a set amount of time in which you do something — often work of some sort. "She served a stint in the army, followed by a stint in an office setting, before settling on a career as a lounge singer."

Unlike a project or vocation, a stint can refer to the stretch of time spent doing a particular job. You apply for a job, but you refer to your past stint in the Peace Corps. As a verb, stint means to be sparing or frugal, or restrict in a stingy manner ("to skimp"). "The school board chose to make cuts at the administrative level, rather than stint on the children's education."

Definitions of stint

1. verb

   supply sparingly and with restricted quantities
   synonyms: scant, skimp

   type of:

   furnish, provide, render, supply

   give something useful or necessary to
2. verb

   subsist on a meager allowance
   synonyms: scrimp, skimp

   type of:

   save

   spend less; buy at a reduced price
3. noun

   an unbroken period of time during which you do something
   synonyms: stretch

   type of:

   continuance, duration

   the period of time during which something continues
4. noun

   an individual's prescribed share of work
   “her stint as a lifeguard exhausted her”

   type of:

   chore, job, task

   a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty or for a specific fee
5. noun

   smallest American sandpiper
   synonyms: Erolia minutilla, least sandpiper

   type of:

   sandpiper

   any of numerous usually small wading birds having a slender bill and piping call; closely related to the plovers