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Pat vs Shard - What's the difference?

pat | shard | Related terms |

Pat is a related term of shard.


As a noun shard is

a piece of broken glass or pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig or shard can be the plant chard.

As a verb shard is

to fall apart into shards, usually as the result of impact or explosion.

pat

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . For loss of ''l , compare (patch) for (platch); (pate) for (plate), etc. See (l).

Noun

(en noun)
  • The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep
  • A light tap or slap, especially with the hands
  • A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
  • * Charles Dickens
    • It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter.
    Derived terms
    * pat on the back (n.) * patter * pitter-pat: a diminutive of footfalls. "the pitter-pat of little feet running around the house."

    Verb

    (patt)
  • To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
    • To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
  • * 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 22[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22]
    • He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.
  • To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
    • I patted the cookie dough into shape.
  • * 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23
    • Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
  • (Australia, New Zealand) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
    • Do you want to pat the cat?
  • To gently rain.
    • Derived terms
    * pat down * pat on the back (v.)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • timely, suitable, apt, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken
    • a pat expression
  • * 1788, Cowper, Pity for Africans , p 18
    • A story so pat , you may think it is coined.
  • trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality
  • * 2010, New York Times , Editorial: Jobs and the Class of 2010, May 23.
    • The pat answer is that college students should consider graduate school as a way to delay a job search until things turn around, and that more high school students should go to college to improve their prospects. ''
    Derived terms
    * pat hand

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
  • * c''. 1600 , William Shakespeare, '' III.iii
    • Now might I do it pat
  • Perfectly.
    • He has the routine down pat .
    Derived terms
    * pat in the middle

    See also

    * strike * hit * feel * name

    Etymology 2

    Abbreviation.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • patent
  • (knitting) pattern
  • * 2012 , Kari Cornell, Knitting Sweaters from around the World (page 52)
    • Work in pat to next underarm marker, sm, place next st on holder

    Anagrams

    * ----

    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

    *