▪ I. splinter, n.
(ˈsplɪntə(r))
Forms: 5 splynter, 6– splinter, 7 splenter.
[a. MDu. splinter (Du. and WFris. splinter), splenter (WFlem. splenter), = LG. splinter (hence in G.), splenter, related to splint n. Cf. splinder n.]
1. a. A rough (usually a comparatively long, thin, and sharp-edged) piece of wood, bone, stone, etc., split or broken off, esp. as the result of violent impact; a chip, fragment, or shiver.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. vii. (Bodl. MS.), A reod..hurteþ þe hande sone wiþ splynters. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 9 The staf brake,..and the pece and the splinter therof lepte, and smote oute the ladies eye. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 56 It draweth forth thornes and Splinters or shivers. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 25 His arrowes were fiue quarters long, headed with the splinters of a white christall-like stone. 1657 Trapp Comm. Ps. xxix. 6 God..maketh those huge trees, the splinters of them, to flie up into the air. 1711 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 161 The bomb,..a splinter of which struck the lady. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (Rtldg.) 478/1 An arrow shattered the bone in such a manner, that splinters were taken out. 1801 Col. Stewart in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1845) IV. 308 A shot through the mainmast knocked a few splinters about us. 1841 H. Miller O.R. Sandst. vi. 116 Almost..every splinter of sandstone, every limestone nodule, contained its organism. 1873 Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 59 The best means of drilling holes in glass is by using a splinter of a diamond. |
b. fig. and in
fig. context.
| 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet To Father & Sons, Ile make such a splinter runne into your wits, as shal make them ranckle till you become fooles. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xx. 207 He fears not to have the splinters of his party (when it breaks) flie into his eyes. 1690 Temple Ess., Poetry Wks. 1720 I. 245 This Vein of Conceit seemed proper for such Scraps or Splinters into which Poetry was broken. 1730 Young Ep. fr. Oxf. 184 Satire recoils whenever charg'd too high, Round your own fame the fatal splinters fly. 1856 W. E. Aytoun Bothwell (1857) 95 The splinters and the accidents That flash from every deed of crime. |
c. Used (chiefly with negatives) to denote a very small piece or amount, or something of little or no value.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 283 Hee'l say..The Grecian Dames are sun-burnt, and not worth The splinter of a Lance. 1658 Osborne Mem. Jas. I, 56 It is..the..Custome and pure Nature of Humanity to venerate the least splinter of Antiquity. 1728 Morgan Algiers II. v. 320 As for the Ship he talked of, they were resolutely bent not to part with the least Splinter of it. 1769 Home Fatal Discov. ii, She is not worth the splinter of a spear. |
d. In
phr. in splinters or
into splinters. Also
all to splinters, completely, thoroughly.
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xii. 486 With the fearful shock, Their spears in splinters flew. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 172 When the bone broken into Splinters, is thrust inward. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 32 ¶2 Looking-Glasses..sometimes shivered into ten thousand Splinters. 1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad viii. 258 Short from the steel, the staff in splinters broke. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 483 Into fiery splinters leapt the lance. 1884 ‘H. Collingwood’ (W. Lancaster) Under Meteor Flag 159 We beat Flinn all to splinters. |
e. A sharp piece of rock projecting from the main body.
| 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xiv. 94 A cliff, which afforded us..some protruding splinters to lay hold of by the hands. |
f. A splinter group (see sense 7 b below).
orig. and chiefly
U.S.| 1948 Sun (Baltimore) 20 Aug. 1/2 The Republican party and its Dewey-Warren ticket, without ‘leftist or extreme right splinters’, is the nation's only hope ‘to put an end to disunity’. 1972 D. E. Westlake Bank Shot viii. 56 Probably a new splinter... They keep fractionalizing, makes it extremely difficult to keep proper surveillance. 1977 New Yorker 9 May 67/2 The old-guard splinter of the Congress which Mrs. Gandhi had routed in 1969. 1981 Listener 1 Jan. 24/1 A newly imaginative use of a Red Brigade splinter. |
2. A surgical splint.
Obs. or
dial.| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 46 The splinter must be made of stiffe paper, of latinn, or of any other substance. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. ii. xvi. 122 These splinters were like such, as I used to Bone-fractures. 1820 A. Cooper, etc. Surg. Ess. (ed. 2) 165 The under splinter was a firm excavated piece of deal. |
3. a. A comparatively thin piece or slender strip of wood prepared or used for some particular purpose.
Cf. splint n. 2.
| 1648 Hexham ii, Een Schindel, a Shingle, or a Splenter. 1673–4 Grew Anat. Pl., Anat. Trunks (1682) 121 The Perpendicular Splinters or Twigs of a Basket. 1723 Pres. State Russia I. 307 The Roofs are made of thin Splinters of Fir. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 271 Piercing the stems or roots by a longitudinal cut through a joint, and keeping the wound open with a wedge or splinter. |
b. Used as a torch, or dipped in tallow and used as a candle.
| 1751 England's Gaz. s.v. Macclesfield, Fir-trees..which are dug up for various uses, but chiefly for splinters, that serve the poor for candles. 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 470 Some take with them little fascines of fat Pine splinters for torches. 1828 Croker Leg. S. Irel. II. 155 While his rosy daughter held a splinter to her mother. 1851 T. H. Turner Dom. Archit. I. ii. 68 It was therefore lit up with splinters and flambeaux. 1862 T. W. Higginson Army Life (1870) 24 Perusing a hymn-book by the light of a pine splinter. |
† 4. A fibre or filament of undressed hemp.
Cf. shiver n.1 2.
Obs.—1| 1673 Boyle Ess. Effluviums ii. 15 The thrids or splinters of Hemp the Rope was made up of. |
† 5. = splint n. 5.
Obs.—1| 1704 Dict. Rust. (1726) s.v. Rules buying Horses, If there be hard knots on the inside of the Leg, they are Splinters. |
6. ellipt. = splinter-bar 2.
rare.
| 1794 Felton Carriages (1801) I. 62 The front bar to a single-horse carriage is what the draught is mostly taken from, by means of a splinter hung thereto. 1801 tr. Gabrielli's Myst. Husb. II. 68 The driver..appeared to have his doubts whether he should not object to my getting into the elegant vehicle, the splinter being certainly, in his opinion, more calculated for a person in my station. |
7. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
splinter forceps,
splinter-hoop,
splinter wound;
splinter bid Bridge, an unusual jump bid showing a singleton or void in the suit bid;
splinter-deck, an armour-plated deck on a ship (see also
quot. 1909);
splinter hæmorrhage, a narrow, elongated hæmorrhage resembling one produced by a splinter;
splinter net,
-netting Naut., a net or netting of small rope spread on board a warship during action to protect the men from falling splinters;
splinter-new a. dial. [
cf. G.
splinterneu,
Du. splinternieuw, etc.], quite new. See also
splinter-bar, -proof.
| 1977 Oxf. Times 11 Feb. 8/7 The bidding went: One Heart—pass—Three Spades (*splinter bid showing a singleton or void together with a heart fit). 1978 N.Y. Times 29 Mar. c 25/2 For slam purposes, the splinter bid, or unusual jump to show a singleton or a void, solves many problems. |
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. 346/2 A deck worked for protective purposes below a protective deck is called the *splinter-deck. 1933 Jane's Fighting Ships 171 Above again is a 11/15{pp} splinter deck against aerial attack. 1973 J. Quick Dict. Weapons & Mil. Terms 416/3 Splinter deck, a deck fitted with armor. |
| 1895 Arnold & Sons' Catal. Surg. Instrum. 82 *Splinter Forceps. |
| 1931 W. Boyd Path. Internal Dis. i. 40 There may be small ‘*splinter hemorrhages’ under the nail—a linear track as if a sliver had been run in. 1971 Robbins & Angell Basic Path. ix. 274/2 Seeding of the nail beds and of the skin produces small petechial hemorrhages known as ‘splinter hemorrhages’ or microabscesses. |
| 1681 Grew Musæum iv. iii. 374 A plain Indian Fan,..Made of the small stringy parts of Roots,..bound together with a *Splinter-Hoop. |
| 1894 Daily News 21 Mar. 5/2 Bulkheads, boats, *splinter nets. |
| 1799 Hull Advertiser 17 Aug. 4/2 The flames coming up the companion and setting fire to the *splinter netting. 1830 Marryat King's Own xvii, The hatchways being covered over with a strong splinter⁓netting. |
| 1824– *Splinter-new (in Sc., Cumbld., Yks. dial. glossaries and texts). |
| 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle ix, The *splinter wound in his head burst afresh. |
b. attrib. or as adj. Of or pertaining to a group, party, etc., which splits itself off as an independent entity from a larger political or social group,
esp. as
splinter group.
orig. N. Amer.| 1935 Economist 19 Oct. 742/2 The new ‘splinter parties’, it will be observed—the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (farmer-labour), Mr. H. H. Stevens's ‘Reconstructionists’, and the Social Credit League—have hardly succeeded in making a scratch on the traditional surface of Canadian politics. 1948 Manch. Guardian Weekly 15 Jan. 5/2 He challenges the Republicans to dodge the stigma of reaction and encourages the Wallace ‘splinter groups’ to hold firm. 1948 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Feb. 8/3 While splinter minorities may have a voice in the legislature, they cannot extend that voice beyond their own minority base. 1950 Times 27 Feb. 5/3 The Cabinet is made up of an uneasy coalition of splinter parties. 1958 Spectator 17 Jan. 73/2 The formation of superior-minded splinter groups which have no wish to become part of the main body of the Church. |
| 1898 Middleton & Tait Tribes without Rulers 209 Splinter-segments of a clan do not form cores of tribes. 1964 R. Braddon Year Angry Rabbit v. 43 The fourteen new splinter nations now beginning to flake off the edges of a ripely rich Soviet Russia. 1968 Guardian 17 June 8/1 The ineffective splinter-group politics of the Fourth Republic. 1975 N.Y. Times 8 Nov. 26/2 The women's movement has increasingly allowed itself to be dominated..by radical splinter groups and issues which lack support among the majority of women. 1978 L. Heren Growing up on The Times ix. 293 Malcolm X formed a splinter movement, the organization of Afro-American unity. 1979 D. Sanders Queen sends for Mrs Chadwick 82 Supposing..the two main parties are dead⁓locked... They would have to turn to whatever splinter party happened to be closest to their own line. |
▪ II. splinter, v. (
ˈsplɪntə(r))
[f. the n. Cf. Du. splinteren, WFris. splinterje, LG. and G. splintern; WFlem. splenteren.] 1. a. trans. To break or split into splinters or long narrow pieces, or in such a way as to leave a rough jagged end or projections.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 21 The oars are cleene splintred. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 53 My leane withered hands..are all to shiuered and splinterd in their wide cases of skinne. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Engagement, This mutual assault..: battering, penetrating, and splintering the sides and decks. 1806 Monthly Mag. XXI. 403 A strong bull..splintered with his horns the upper post. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lxxvii. 325 The trees that the storms have splintered are never of use. 1898 Wollocombe Fr. Morn till Eve v. 48 The top of the pole..had been splintered, and was held together by a very thin shred. |
b. fig. and in
fig. context.
| 1603 Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 159 (Q.1), The Courtier, Scholler, Souldier, all in him, All dasht and splinterd thence. 1849 M. Arnold Mycerinus 99 While the deep-burnish'd foliage overhead Splinter'd the silver arrows of the moon. 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 18 [He] sought To make disruption in the Table Round Of Arthur, and to splinter it into feuds. |
c. To bring or cause to fall
down, to break off or rend
from, in splinters.
| 1807 J. Barlow Columb. vii. 230 High from the decks the mortar's bursting fires Sweep the full streets, and splinter down the spires. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) xiii. 320 Long lines of the débris that have been splintered by frost from the higher wall [of rock]. |
d. To form by shivering or splitting.
| 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 7 Five short days, sufficient hardly to entice, from out its den Splintered in the slab, this pink perfection of the cyclamen. |
† 2. To bind, fix, or secure by means of a splint or splints;
= splint v. 2. Freq.
fig. Also with
up.
Obs.| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, ii. ii. 118 The broken rancour of your high-swolne hates, But lately splinter'd, knit, and ioyn'd together. 1623 Fletcher & Rowley Maid in Mill i. iii, Those men have broken credits, Loose and dismembred faiths..That splinter 'em with vows. 1659 Bp. Wren Monarchy Asserted 148 That Place, which I find..so strangely shattered, that it will be very hard for Me to Splinter up the broken confused Pieces of it. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton iv. (1840) 73 As to his arm, he found one of the bones broken;..and this he set, and splintered it up, and bound his arm in a sling. |
3. a. intr. To split; to break, burst, or fly
into or
to splinters or fragments; to come
away in splinters.
| 1625 Sir J. Glanville Voy. Cadiz (Camden) 48 This forte was built of a kinde of stone not apt to splinter. 1802 Aikin Woodl. Comp. (1815) 5 Oak-timber is fitted for this purpose [i.e. shipbuilding],..by the property of not readily splintering. a 1832 Crabbe Posth. Tales x. 97 The dry boughs splinter in the windy gale. 1857 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. ii. 99 When heated, it [i.e. anthracite] splinters into small fragments. 1886 G. R. Sims Ring o' Bells i. i. 42 The boy..tugged at the iron ring till the rotten woodwork splintered away from the bolt. |
b. poet. To pierce
through in the form of, or after the manner of, splinters.
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 80 Stronger lightnings splinter through the cloud. Ibid. 213 The moon..Splinters through the broken glass. |
c. fig. To break off to form a splinter group or groups;
loosely, to divide or split. Also with
off.
| 1967 M. L. King Trumpet of Conscience iii. 49 Under the impact of social forces unique to their times, young people have splintered into three principal groups, though of course there is some overlap among the three. 1972 Guardian 11 Jan. 9/1 Later Frank Ashbourn joined them..and in May 1970 he and Mersh splintered off to form South Sea Bubble. 1976 Oxford Diocesan Mag. July 11/1 But the village's young people, distressed at seeing the parishioners splinter off to other towns for church, asked to hold the new prayer assembly in place of Mass. |