sliver

Meanings

Noun

• A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment; a splinter.
• 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.
• Bait made of pieces of small fish. Compare kibblings.
• A narrow high-rise apartment building.
• A small amount of something; a drop in the bucket; a shred.

Verb

• To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit.

Related

Similar words

• shard, slice, splinter

Origin

• From Middle English sliver from Middle English sliven ("to cut, cleave, split"), from Old English slīfan (as in tōslīfan).