Lint

[lint] /lɪnt/

noun
1.
minute shreds or ravelings of yarn; bits of thread.
2.
staple cotton fiber used to make yarn.
3.
cotton waste produced by the ginning process.
4.
a soft material for dressing wounds, procured by scraping or otherwise treating linen cloth.
/lɪnt/
noun
1.
an absorbent cotton or linen fabric with the nap raised on one side, used to dress wounds, etc
2.
shreds of fibre, yarn, etc
3.
(mainly US) staple fibre for making cotton yarn
n.

late 14c., “flax prepared for spinning,” also “refuse of flax used as kindling,” somehow from the source of Old English lin “flax” (see linen), perhaps from or by influence of Middle French linette “grain of flax,” diminutive of lin “flax,” from Latin linum “flax, linen;” Klein suggests from Latin linteum “linen cloth,” neuter of adjective linteus. Later “flax refuse used as tinder or for dressing wounds” (c.1400). Still used for “flax” in Scotland in Burns’ time. Applied in American English to stray cotton fluff.

A Unix C language processor which carries out more thorough checks on the code than is usual with C compilers.
Lint is named after the bits of fluff it supposedly picks from programs. Judging by references on Usenet this term has become a shorthand for desk check at some non-Unix shops, even in languages other than C. Also used as delint.
[Jargon File]
(1994-11-14)