[a. F. quinte f.: see prec.]
1. In piquet: A sequence of five cards of the same suit, counting as fifteen.
1680. Cotton, Compl. Gamester (ed. 2), 59. A Quart is a sequence of four Cards, a Quint of five. Ibid., 60. You must reckon for every … Quart four, but for a Quint fifteen.
1719. R. Seymour, Court Gamester, 76. Quint or Quinze, fifteen, though by a Corruption of Pronunciation we call it Kent.
1826. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. (1863), 342. Never dealt the right number of cards … did not know a quart from a quint.
1877. Sir S. Northcote, in Life (1890), I. i. 3, note. He got the point and also two quints, and thus a repique.
b. Quint major, the ace, king, queen, knave and ten of a suit. Quint minor, the five cards from the knave to the seven.
1659. Shuffling, Cutting & Deal., 3. Two Quint Minors will win the game.
1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, IV. i. Wks. 1882, II. 84. Zounds, the rogue has a quint-major.
1720. R. Seymour, Compl. Gamester, I. 93. He who … has a Quint-Major in his Hand … cuts the other off from counting any inferior Quint, Quart or Tierce.
1860. Bohn’s Hand-bk. Games, II. 44. Suppose you have ace … with a quint-major of another suit.
1873. ‘Cavendish,’ Piquet, 34. The elder hand, when calling his sequence, names it thus: ‘A quint minor’ [etc.].
† 2. transf. A set of five persons. Obs. rare–1.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. ii. 1541. Since the State has made a Quint Of Generals, he’s listed in’t.
