Word Study
shard
CIDE DICTIONARY
shard, n.
A plant; chard. Dryden. [1913 Webster]
shard, n. [AS. sceard, properly a p. p. from the root of scearn to shear, to cut; akin to D. schaard a fragment, G. scharte a notch, Icel. skar. See Shear, and cf. Sherd.].
- A piece or fragment of an earthen vessel, or a like brittle substance, as the shell of an egg or snail. Shak. [1913 Webster]"The precious dish
Broke into shards of beauty on the board." [1913 Webster] - The hard wing case of a beetle. [1913 Webster]"They are his shards, and he their beetle." [1913 Webster]
- A gap in a fence. Stanyhurst. [1913 Webster]
- A boundary; a division. Spenser. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
shard, n.
1 a broken piece of pottery or glass etc.
2 = POTSHERD.
3 a fragment of volcanic rock.
4 the wing-case of a beetle.
1 a broken piece of pottery or glass etc.
2 = POTSHERD.
3 a fragment of volcanic rock.
4 the wing-case of a beetle.
Etymology
OE sceard: sense 3 f. shard-borne (Shakesp.) = born in a shard (dial., = cow-dung), wrongly taken as 'borne on shards'
THESAURUS
shard
abrade, atomize, beat, bit, bones, bray, break, brecciate, butt, chaff, chip, chunk, clip, clipping, collop, comminute, contriturate, crumb, crumble, crush, culm, cut, cutting, deadwood, dishwater, disintegrate, dollop, draff, dregs, dust, end, fall to pieces, filings, flour, fragment, garbage, gash, gob, gobbet, grain, granulate, granulize, grate, grind, grind to powder, hogwash, hunk, husks, leavings, lees, levigate, lump, mash, mill, modicum, moiety, morsel, offal, offscourings, orts, paring, parings, particle, pestle, piece, potsherds, pound, powder, pulverize, rags, rasher, raspings, reduce to powder, refuse, scoop, scourings, scrap, scrap iron, scraps, scrunch, scum, shards, shatter, shaving, shavings, shiver, shred, slack, slag, slice, sliver, slop, slops, smash, smithereen, snack, snatch, snip, snippet, splinter, squash, stitch, stubble, stump, sweepings, swill, tares, tatter, triturate, wastage, waste, waste matter, wastepaper, weedsFor further exploring for "shard" in Webster Dictionary Online
