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Portion vs Shard - What's the difference?

portion | shard | Related terms |

Portion is a related term of shard.


As nouns the difference between portion and shard

is that portion is portion while 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.

portion

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An allocated amount.
  • That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.
  • One's fate; lot.
  • * Bible, Luke xii. 46
  • The lord of that servant will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
  • * Keble
  • Man's portion is to die and rise again.
  • The part of an estate given or falling to a child or heir; an inheritance.
  • * Bible, Luke xv. 12
  • Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
  • A wife's fortune; a dowry.
  • * 1613 , , V. iv. 31:
  • Commend me to her, and to piece her portion / Tender her this.

    Usage notes

    Relatively formal, compared to the more informal part or more concrete and casual piece. For example, “part of the money” (both informal) but “portion of the proceeds” (both formal).

    Synonyms

    * part * piece

    Derived terms

    * portionless * proportion

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To divide into amounts, as for allocation to specific purposes.
  • To endow with a portion or inheritance.
  • Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest. — Alexander Pope.

    Usage notes

    * Particularly used as portion out. * Relatively formal, compared to the more informal divide, divide up, or the casual divvy, divvy up.

    Synonyms

    * divide, divide up * divvy, divvy up

    Derived terms

    * portion off * portion out

    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

    *