Present participle of dint; the act of making a dent or of achieving something through force or effort.
From Old English 'dynt' with the addition of the '-ing' present participle suffix, following standard English verb formation patterns.
Scottish and Northern English dialects kept 'dint' much more alive in everyday speech than Southern English, which is why it survives today mostly in the frozen phrase 'by dint of'—a fossil of older regional language.
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