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Shard vs Length - What's the difference?

shard | length | Related terms |

Shard is a related term of length.


As nouns the difference between shard and length

is that shard is a piece of broken glass or pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig or shard can be the plant chard while length is the distance measured along the longest dimension of an object.

As verbs the difference between shard and length

is that shard is to fall apart into shards, usually as the result of impact or explosion while length is (obsolete) to lengthen.

shard

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) sceard . Akin to Dutch ).

Alternative forms

* sherd

Noun

(en noun)
  • A piece of broken glass or pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig.
  • A piece of material, especially rock and similar materials, reminding of a broken piece of glass or pottery.
  • * 2014, (Paul Salopek), Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. , National Geographic (December 2014)[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text]
    • Inside its exhibit hall, behind panes of glass, in a white-lit lab, a team of restorers works on an ancient Byzantine floor: 44 square yards of stone shards rescued from Lot’s Cave Monastery.
  • A tough scale, sheath, or shell; especially an elytron of a beetle.
  • (online role-playing) An instance of an MMORPG that is one of several independent and structurally identical virtual worlds, none of which has so many players as to exhaust a system's resources.
  • * 1997 , Ultima Online''. The term "shard" is related to the backstory of the game, in which the Gem of Immortality is shattered by the Stranger, the protagonist of ''Ultima I .
    • "The planet was still bound to the jewel's magic, even as it lay shattered upon the floor of Mondain's castle. For,(SIC) within each shattered remnant of the jewel, dwelled a perfect likeness of Sosaria. Thus is the world in which you are born, live, and die. Brittania(SIC), that was once Sosaria, now exists as a thousand worlds, each with its own peoples, history and destiny. This Brittania(SIC) is but one of many in the multiverse that is... ...ULTIMA ONLINE." - Intro cinematic to the game, written by Michael Morlan [http://michael-morlan.net/pages/production/prod_uo.htm]
    Derived terms
    * potsherd
    Synonyms
    * potsherd * splinter (of glass)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fall apart into shards, usually as the result of impact or explosion.
  • To break (something) into shards.
  • (online role-playing) To divide (an MMORPG) into several , or to establish a shard of one.

    • References

    * (pottery) Shard'', in the ''Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (-)
  • The plant chard.
    • (Dryden)

    Anagrams

    *

    length

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object.
  • duration
  • * Robert Frost
    • Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length .
  • (horse racing) The length of a horse, used to indicate the distance between horses at the end of a race.
  • (mathematics) Distance between the two ends of a line segment.
  • (cricket) The distance down the pitch that the ball bounces on its way to the batsman.
  • (figuratively) Total extent.
    • the length of a book
  • Part of something that is long; a physical piece of something.
    • a length of rope

    Derived terms

    * arm's length * at length * cable length * feature-length * floor-length * focal length * full-length * good length * go to great lengths * half-length * knee-length * lengthen * lengthful * length overall * lengthways * lengthwise * lengthy * line and length * null patch length * overlength * path length * screening length * short of a length * wavelength * zero-length launching

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To lengthen.
  • * 1599 , , XIV. 30:
    • Pack night, peep day; good day, of night now borrow: / Short night, to-night, and length thyself to-morrow.

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words