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splinter

noun

  1. A small shard of something, usually wood, that gets lodged into the skin
L328294 on Wikidata ↗

verb

  1. break into slivers
L333091 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈsplɪn.tə/ / [ˈspl̥ɪn.tʰə] / /ˈsplɪn.tɚ/

name

Etymology: Borrowed from Dutch and North German Splinter.

  1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English splenter, splinter, from Middle Dutch splinter, equivalent to splint + -er.

  1. A long, sharp fragment of material, often wood.
  2. A long, sharp fragment of material, often wood.
  3. A group that formed by splitting off from a larger membership.
  4. A double-jump bid which indicates shortage in the bid suit.
  5. A fragment of a component word in a blend.

verb

Etymology: From the noun splinter.

  1. To come apart into long sharp fragments.

    “The tall tree splintered during the storm.”

    “It was all coming at her now: the fatigue and the fever; pieces of her lung splintering and mixing with her throwup; the calcifications on her bones, where the disease had already spread.”

  2. To cause to break apart into long sharp fragments.

    “His third kick splintered the door.”

    “After splintering their lances, they wheeled about, and […] abandoned the field to the enemy.”

  3. To break, or cause to break, into factions.

    “The government splintered when the coalition members could not agree.”

    “The unpopular new policies splintered the company.”

  4. To fasten or confine with splinters, or splints, as a broken limb.

    “it will be very hard for Me to Splinter up the broken confuséd Pieces of it.”