sliver

English

WOTD – 20 February 2010

Etymology

From Middle English slivere, sliver from Middle English sliven (“to cut, cleave, split”), from Old English slīfan (as in tōslīfan (“to split, split up”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈslɪv.ə(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): /ˈslɪv.ɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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• Rhymes: -ɪvə(ɹ)

Noun

sliver (plural slivers)

1. 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).

   1. (regional US) Specifically, a splinter caught under the skin.
2. 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.
3. (fishing) Bait made of pieces of small fish. Compare kibblings.
4. (US, New York) A narrow high-rise apartment building.
5. A small amount of something; a drop in the bucket; a shred.

Synonyms

• (long piece cut or rent off): shard, slice, splinter

Translations

a long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment

• Bulgarian: треска (bg) f (treska)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 裂片 (zh) (lièpiàn)

• Czech: odštěpek m, tříska (cs) f, odřezek m
• Finnish: säle (fi), lastu (fi)
• French: écharde (fr), éclat (fr)
• Galician: estela (gl) f, acha (gl) f
• German: Splitter (de) m, kleiner Teil m, kleines Stück n, Spreißel (de) m
• Icelandic: flís (is) f, flaski m
• Italian: scheggia (it), frammento (it), scaglia (it) f, spezzone (it) m
• Korean: 조각 (ko) (jogak)
• Latgalian: skaida f, ževers m
• Latvian: skaida f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: hōripi, kōripi
• Plautdietsch: Spekja m
• Portuguese: lasca (pt) f
• Romanian: surcea (ro) f, așchie (ro) f
• Russian: ще́пка (ru) f (ščépka), осколок (ru) m (oskolok)
• Slovak: trieska, štiepka
• Slovene: trska (sl) f
• Spanish: astilla (es), tira (es) f
• Swedish: flisa (sv), speta (sv), sticka (sv), speta (sv), sticka (sv)
• Tocharian B: ṣat
• Turkish: kıymık (tr), ince dilim
• Zazaki: qırm

strand or slender roll of cotton or other fiber in a loose, untwisted state

• Bulgarian: вълмо n (vǎlmo)
• Finnish: tappura (fi), rohdin (fi), aivina (fi)
• German: Band (de) n, Faserband n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Turkish: kordon (tr), şerit (tr)

bait made of pieces of small fish

• French: languette (fr)
• Spanish: cebo lengüeta
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: livagn

New York: A narrow high-rise apartment building

• French: tour (fr), gratte-ciel (fr)
• Italian: grattacielo (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: дом-точка m (dom-točka) (informal)
• Spanish: edificio (es), rascacielos (es)

See also

• slither

Verb

sliver (third-person singular simple present slivers, present participle slivering, simple past and past participle slivered)

1. (transitive) To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit.

   to sliver wood

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

   slips of yew,
   Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse

   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

     They'll sliver thee like a turnip.

Anagrams

• Elvirs, Silver, levirs, livers, livres, rivels, silver, svirel