hints

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of hint.

   The teacher offered a couple of hints before the class started the exam.

   Subtle hints in the report suggested the company was struggling.

   Note

   The plural covers every kind of hint at once: the clues dropped for someone to follow, the indirect suggestions made instead of asking outright, the faint traces of something barely there. It also has two technical lives. A font's hints guide how its outlines turn into pixels at small sizes, and a query's hints tell a database engine how to run it. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, as in she hints at it.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of hint.

   The coach hints at major changes to the starting lineup next week.

   The forecast hints at a break in the rain by the weekend.

   Note

   Two constructions sit behind this form. Used intransitively it needs at: the coach hints at changes. Used transitively it takes what is suggested directly, often as a that-clause: the forecast hints that the rain will ease. A type designer who hints a font is doing something else entirely, adding the rendering instructions that the plural noun also names.

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