sliver
English
WOTD – 20 February 2010
Etymology
Middle English slivere, sliver from Middle English sliven (“to cut, cleave, split”), from Old English -slīfan (as in tōslīfan (“to split, split up”)).
Pronunciation
Noun
sliver (plural slivers)
- A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment; a splinter.
- 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company. chapter 27. p. 270.
- A sliver of bone has punctured a lung, and a small surgical operation was needed to remove it (would he like to keep the bone as a memento?--it is in a phial by his bedside).
- 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company. chapter 27. p. 270.
- A strand, or slender roll, of cotton or other fiber in a loose, untwisted state, produced by a carding machine and ready for the roving or slubbing which precedes spinning.
- Bait made of pieces of small fish. Compare kibblings.
- (US, New York) A narrow high-rise apartment building.
Translations
a long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment
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strand or slender roll of cotton or other fiber in a loose, untwisted state
New York: A narrow high-rise apartment building
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See also
Verb
sliver (third-person singular simple present slivers, present participle slivering, simple past and past participle slivered)
- (transitive) To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit.
- to sliver wood
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
- Sir Walter Scott
- They'll sliver thee like a turnip.
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