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Splinter vs Shiver - What's the difference?

splinter | shiver |

As nouns the difference between splinter and shiver

is that splinter is a long, sharp fragment of material, often wood while shiver is a fragment or splinter, especially of glass or stone.

As verbs the difference between splinter and shiver

is that splinter is to come apart into long sharp fragments while shiver is to break into splinters or fragments.

splinter

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A long, sharp fragment of material, often wood.
  • A group that formed by splitting off from a larger membership.
  • Synonyms

    * (long sharp fragment) shard, spelk. * (group formed by splitting) faction, splinter group.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To come apart into long sharp fragments.
  • The tall tree splintered during the storm.
  • To cause to break apart into long sharp fragments.
  • His third kick splintered the door.
  • * Prescott
  • After splintering their lances, they wheeled about, and abandoned the field to the enemy.
  • (figuratively, of a group) To break, or cause to break, into factions.
  • The government splintered when the coalition members could not agree.
    The unpopular new policies splintered the company.
  • To fasten or confine with splinters, or splints, as a broken limb.
  • (Bishop Wren)

    shiver

    English

    Etymology 1

    From a Germanic word, probably present in Old English though unattested, cognate with Old High German scivaro'' (German ''Schiefer ‘slate’).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fragment or splinter, especially of glass or stone.
  • (obsolete, UK, dialect) A thin slice; a shive.
  • * Fuller
  • a shiver of their own loaf
  • (geology) A variety of blue slate.
  • (nautical) A sheave or small wheel in a pulley.
  • A small wedge, as for fastening the bolt of a window shutter.
  • (obsolete, UK, dialect) A spindle.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To break into splinters or fragments.
  • * 1851 ,
  • But if, in the face of all this, you still declare that whaling has no aesthetically noble associations connected with it, then am I ready to shiver fifty lances with you there, and unhorse you with a split helmet every time.
  • * 1904 , (Arthur Conan Doyle), The Adventure of the Six Napoleons , Norton (2005), page 1034:
  • he found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood with several other works of art upon the counter, lying shivered into fragments.
  • * 2010 , (Christopher Hitchens), Hitch-22 , Atlantic 2011, p. 183:
  • A whole series of fault lines radiated away from this Lisbon earthquake, all of them shivering the structures of traditional order.
    Derived terms
    * shiver my timbers

    Etymology 2

    Origin uncertain, perhaps an alteration of chavel.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To tremble or shake, especially when cold or frightened.
  • * Creech
  • The man that shivered on the brink of sin, / Thus steeled and hardened, ventures boldly in.
  • * 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
  • Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome."
  • * 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
  • He was shivering a little, for he had always been used to sleeping in a proper bed, and by this time his coat had worn so thin and threadbare from hugging that it was no longer any protection to him.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.}}
  • (nautical) To cause to shake or tremble, as a sail, by steering close to the wind.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act or result of shivering.
  • :
  • *
  • *:But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.
  • (lb) A bodily response to early hypothermia.(w)
  • Derived terms

    * send shivers down someone's spine

    Anagrams

    *