Definition of "tine"

The tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or steel, the girl did not know which, while the handle and the spoon were of the same material as the smaller vessels.

1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan the Untamed

Sitting at the table one day, I held the fork in my left hand and pierced a piece of fried chicken. I put the knife through the second tine, as we had been strictly taught, and began to saw against the bone.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 9, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, pages 45–46

“I answer not the challenge of my prisoner,” said Front-de-Bœuf; “nor shalt thou, Maurice de Bracy.—Giles,” he continued, “hang the franklin’s glove upon the tine of yonder branched antlers: […]

1820, Walter Scott, chapter XXVII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […]

“By my faith, sirs,” he continued, half turning in his saddle to address his escort, “unless my woodcraft is sadly at fault, it is a stag of six tines and the finest that we have roused this journey.

1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The White Company, New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […]

As wither'd Weed through cruel Winter's Tine

1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie

Coals of contention and hot vengeance tin'd.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie

The Air attrite to Fire, as late the Clouds / Juſtling or puſht with Winds rude in thir ſhock / Tine the ſlant Lightning, […]

1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

The priest with holy hands was seen to tine / The cloven wood, and pour the ruddy wine.

a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760

Ne was there salve, ne was there medicine, / That mote recure their wounds; so inly they did tine.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie

When I was then surrounded on every side by the fiends, and tined about by the blindness of the darkness, then hove I my eyes up and looked hither and yond, whether any help were to come to me, that I might be rescued; […]

1852, Alfred the Great, translated by Alfred Committee, The Whole Works of King Alfred the Great, volume II, page 388

“Terrible trying,” said Oak. “I’ve been wet through twice a-day, either in snow or rain, this last fortnight. Cainy and I haven’t tined our eyes to-night.”

1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […]