▪ I. splitting, vbl. n.
(ˈsplɪtɪŋ)
[f. split v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb.; cleaving or rending: a. In intransitive uses. Also with asunder.
| c 1595 Capt. Wyatt Dudley's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 54 When wee expected nothing less then splittinge of sailes, breakinge of shroudes [etc.]. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 23/1 The cleavinge or splittinge in the lippes,..and in the nose. 1611 Cotgr., Debris,..a breaking, or splitting asunder, as of a ship against a rocke. 1722–7 Boyer Dict. Royal i, Eclat de rire, a splitting with Laughing. 1798 Hutton Course Math. (1807) II. 335 It is to be suspected that the great penetration..was owing to the splitting of his timber in some degree. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 330/1 The failure of the wall, by its separating into two thicknesses along the middle,..is called splitting. 1882 Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 734 The splitting asunder of whole masses of tissue during freezing. |
b. In transitive uses. Also with out.
| 1872 Holland Marble Proph. 102 When the chopping and splitting were done. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 131 A long spell of bush work—splitting, fencing,..what not. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 5 May 1/2 The Chief Constructor..will personally direct the splitting out of the only twelve blocks remaining under the vessel. |
2. a. The action of dividing, separating, or parting.
| 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 34/1 Lest the Managers, by Splitting of Votes, should escape the Prosecution commenced against them. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 173 To prevent the splitting of freeholds. 1766 Ibid. II. 215 The inconveniences that attended the splitting of estates. 1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. i. 3 Such a splitting into two parties. 1885 Athenæum 12 Sept. 333/1 It is equally difficult to escape the charge of tedious and needless splittings. |
b. Similarly with up.
| 1847 tr. Bunsen's Ch. Future 10 Along with the splitting up of the divine idea in man, the human race also was split up out of unity into plurality. 1862 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (ed. 2) 288 The formation and the splitting up of these saccharides. 1895 Knowledge July 149 The splitting up of the rays which occurs on the transmission of light through a prism. |
c. spec. in Psychol. The process of division or dissociation affecting the mind or self. Also with off.
| 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. ix. 227 According to M. Janet these secondary personalities are always abnormal, and result from the splitting of what ought to be a single complete self into two parts. 1910 tr. Freud's Orig. & Devel. Psycho-Anal. in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XXI. 191 We followed his [sc. Janet's] example when we made the mental splitting and the dissociation of personality the central points of our theory. Ibid., I soon came to another view of the origin of hysterical dissociation (or splitting of consciousness). 1927 Henderson & Gillespie Text-Bk. Psychiatry v. 101 The most extensive, and at the same time the most profound, of all personality changes is the ‘splitting of the personality’ that occurs in advanced schizophrenia. 1945 M. Klein Contributions to Psycho-Analysis (1948) 346 The early splitting of the mother figure into a good and bad ‘breast mother’ as a way of dealing with ambivalence had been very marked. 1967 J. A. Hadfield Introd. Psychotherapy xviii. 134 A severe shock such as a car accident or even a severe illness can result in a splitting off of some part of consciousness. |
3. pl. That which is split, cleft, or chopped.
| 1867 Morn. Star 8 Oct., A Salisbury butcher announces..meat at the following prices:..Beef—brisket, 7d.; splittings, 7½d.; rumps, 8d. 1887 D. C. Murray & Herman Traveller Returns vi. 78 Upon this small logs and splittings, dry and green alike, were thrown. |
4. Mining. (See quot.)
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 231 Splittings, two horizontal level headings driven through a pillar in pillar workings, in order to work away the coal. |
5. attrib., chiefly in the sense of ‘used or adapted for splitting’, as splitting-knife, splitting-machine, splitting-mill, splitting-tool; splitting-block (see quot. 1711); splitting-board (see quot. 1875); splitting field Math., the least field which includes all roots of a specified polynomial.
| 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 25 Blocks of hard knotty Stuff..upon which you lay other Blocks, called Splitting-blocks, of the freest Timber that can be got, for the Conveniency of cleaving out again, when you are ready to launch. 1802 A. Young Autobiog. (1898) 383, I have fixed straw work here,..and my splitting machines are all distributed. 1841 H. Scrivenor Hist. Iron Trade vi. 120 All below that size were cut in the splitting-mill. 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 459 Paring or splitting tools, with thin edges. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2162/2 The blocks are fed to the splitting-knives by fluted rollers. Ibid. 2281/2 Splitting-board (Mining),..a dividing board used in mine ventilation to divide the incoming air. 1886 A. Weir Hist. Basis Mod. Europe (1889) 377 The rollers..saved the smaller gauges from being consigned to the splitting mill. 1942 E. Artin Galois Theory ii. 22 A splitting field is of finite degree since it is constructed by a finite number of adjunctions of algebraic elements, each defining a field of finite degree. 1971 E. C. Dade in Powell & Higman Finite Simple Groups viii. 256 If F is algebraically closed, then it is a splitting field for any simple F-algebra. |
▪ II. ˈsplitting, ppl. a.
[f. split v.]
1. a. Causing to split or rend.
| 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 97 The splitting Rockes cowr'd in the sinking sands. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 49 When the splitting winde Makes flexible the knees of knotted Oakes. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. 64 The flashes of fire from heaven, by which light onely we kept from the splitting shore. |
b. Ear-splitting; deafening.
| 1821 Byron Sardan. i. ii, Worse than the rabble's shout, or splitting trumpet. 1891 Farrar Darkn. & Dawn lv, Splitting outbursts settled into a long continued roar. |
c. Croquet. Of a stroke: Causing the balls to go in divergent directions.
| 1874 Heath Croquet Player 37 The Splitting Stroke. In this stroke, the two balls..fly off from each other at an angle. It is the most important of the croquet-strokes. |
2. Parting asunder; separating by cleavage.
| 1725 Pope Odyss. vii. 358 The splitting Raft the furious tempest tore. 1883 Gd. Words Nov. 732/1 Besides the very small disease germs, there are many ‘splitting-fungi’. 1891 T. Hardy Tess (1900) 24/1 The aspect of the straight road enlarged,..the two banks dividing like a splitting stick. |
3. Extremely fast; very rapid.
| 1829 in Standard 6 Apr. (1908) 8/2 On the pistol being fired, the boats went off at a splitting rate. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. xv, A weak-spirited, improvident idiot..racing off at a splitting pace for the workhouse. 1873 Routledge's Young Gentl. Mag. 270/2 At a splitting gallop. |
4. Of a headache: Violent, severe. Also fig. of the head.
| 1828 Oscotian I. 461 Felt a splitting head-ache under my night-cap. 1835 Dickens Let. 18 Dec. (1965) I. 109 The noise and confusion here..is so great that my head is actually splitting. 1847 Mrs. Gore Castles in Air xxviii. III. 49, I woke next morning..with a splitting head-ache. 1857 G. A. Lawrence Guy Livingstone iii. 23 Pale men with splitting heads..after a heavy drink. 1884 Punch 15 Nov. 230/2 Head split open; splitting headache as result. 1893 Earl Dunmore Pamirs II. 191, I had a splitting headache in consequence of my fall. |
5. splitting image, an exact likeness. Also (dial.) splitten image. Cf. spitting image s.v. spitting ppl. a. 3.
| 1880 T. Clarke Specimens Westmoreland Dial. ii. 36 Soa t'kersmas up i't'fells Et just be t'splitten image Ov a kersmas 'mang yersells. 1939 D. Hartley Made in England i. 3 Evenness and symmetry are got by pairing the two split halves of the same tree, or branch. (Hence the country saying: he's the ‘splitting image’—an exact likeness.) |