Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
dent, dint (nn., vv.)
Dent, meaning “to make or put a dent in” and, as a noun, “the dent or hollow made in the thing struck,” is by far the more common of the two. Dint as a noun means “a blow” but is now chiefly found in the cliché by dint of, meaning “by force of”: They won by dint of trying harder. Other uses of the noun dint are archaic, but the verb, though of low frequency, is still Standard, meaning “to strike, to deliver a blow.”
