Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a junior surgeon.

1764		Foote Mayor of Garrat in Works (1799) I 162: Dramatis Personae, Lint, a surgeon.
1861		Thackeray Lovel the Widower 216: If Miss Prior [...] prefers this lint-scraper to me, ought I to baulk at her?
1873		Sl. Dict.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 45: Lint Scraper, a young surgeon.