splinter

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See also: Splinter

English

WOTD – 1 February 2009
English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

Noun

splinter (plural splinters)

  1. A long, sharp fragment of material, often wood.
    1. A small such fragment that gets embedded in the flesh.
  2. A group that formed by splitting off from a larger membership.
  3. (bridge) A double-jump bid which indicates shortage in the bid suit.
  4. (linguistics) A fragment of a component word in a blend.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From the noun splinter.

Verb

splinter (third-person singular simple present splinters, present participle splintering, simple past and past participle splintered)

  1. (intransitive) To come apart into long sharp fragments.
    The tall tree splintered during the storm.
  2. (transitive) To cause to break apart into long sharp fragments.
    His third kick splintered the door.
    • 1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC:
      After splintering their lances, they wheeled about, and […] abandoned the field to the enemy.
  3. (figuratively, of a group) 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. (transitive) To fasten or confine with splinters, or splints, as a broken limb.
    • 1659, Matthew Wren, Monarchy Asserted Or The State of Monarchicall & Popular Government:
      it will be very hard for Me to Splinter up the broken confuséd Pieces of it.
Related terms
Translations

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch splinter.

Pronunciation

Noun

splinter m (plural splinters, diminutive splintertje n)

  1. splinter (long, sharp fragment of material)

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Negerhollands: splinter
  • → Papiamentu: spleenter (dated)
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