flinders

¹

[flin-derz]

plural noun

1. splinters; small pieces or fragments.

Flinders

²

[flin-derz]

noun

1. Matthew, 1774–1814, English navigator and explorer: surveyed coast of Australia.

2. a river in NE Australia, flowing NW to the Gulf of Carpentaria. 520 miles (837 km) long.

flinders

/ ˈflɪndəz /

plural noun

1. rare,  small fragments or splinters (esp in the phrase fly into flinders )

Word History and Origins

Origin of flinders¹

1400–50; late Middle English flendris, perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Norwegian flindra splinter; perhaps akin to flint

Word History and Origins

Origin of flinders¹

C15: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Norwegian flindra thin piece of stone

Example Sentences

The infinite threatened to make all motion impossible, while the void threatened to smash the nutshell universe into a thousand flinders.

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Tiwanaku split into flinders that would not be united for another four centuries, when the Inka swept them up.

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“Blow out your light and get lost in the black, or leave it bum and blow the whole place to flinders. That’s more frightening than any demon.”

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He laughed and fired again, and one last tower, one last chess piece, took fire, ignited, and in blue flinders went up to the stars.

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A stack of old Washington Post stories on the District’s street nomenclature had been reduced to flinders.

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