shard
[shahrd]
- a fragment, especially of broken earthenware.
- Zoology.
- a scale.
- a shell, as of an egg or snail.
- Entomology. an elytron of a beetle.
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Also sherd.
Origin of shard
before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceard; cognate with Low German, Dutch schaard; akin to shear
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for shard
Contemporary Examples
Shard glass from the historic church was recently donated to the museum, which is scheduled to open in 2015.
The Brooklyn Bridge, London's Shard, Notre Dame—each structure is an expedition waiting to happen.
One person who wasn't impressed by Prince Andrew's abseil down the Shard: writer Grace Dent.
Here's Prince Andrew abseiling down the Shard in London earlier this week.
The Grand Old Duke Of YorkSeptember 6, 2012
She turned away from the audience to smash a glass goblet, raising a shard to her throat.
Historical Examples
And, faster and faster still, they crashed into the shard of steel.
The Trail of '98Robert W. Service
He picked up a shard of rubidium that served as a paper weight and toyed with it.
The StuttererR.R. Merliss
On the floor under where it should have been I caught the flash of light from a shard of glass.
The GalleryRoger Phillips Graham
Well, look at the figures and lettering on the shard; you can see those.
King John of JingaloLaurence Housman
Then, as he examined them, he saw that the shard and the four films had been changed.
King John of JingaloLaurence Housman
shard
sherd
- a broken piece or fragment of a brittle substance, esp of pottery
- zoology a tough sheath, scale, or shell, esp the elytra of a beetle
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Word Origin
Old English sceard; related to Old Norse skarth notch, Middle High German scharte notch
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for shard
n.
also sherd, Old English sceard "incision, cleft, gap; potshard, a fragment, broken piece," from Proto-Germanic *skardas (cf. Middle Dutch schaerde "a fragment, a crack," Dutch schaard "a flaw, a fragment," German Scharte "a notch," Danish skaar "chink, potsherd"), a past participle from the root of Old English sceran "to cut" (see shear). Meaning "fragment of broken earthenware" developed in late Old English. Used late 14c. as "scale of a dragon." French écharde "prickle, splinter" is a Germanic loan-word.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper