sliver

Middle English slivere, sliver from Middle English sliven (“to cut, cleave, split”), from Old English -slīfan (as in tōslīfan (“to split, split up”)).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈslɪv.əː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈslɪ.vɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪvə(r)

sliver (plural slivers)

1. A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment; a splinter.
   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company. chapter 27. p. 270.

     A sliver of bone has punctured a lung, and a small surgical operation was needed to remove it (would he like to keep the bone as a memento?--it is in a phial by his bedside).

2. 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.
3. Bait made of pieces of small fish. Compare kibblings.
4. (US, New York) A narrow high-rise apartment building.

• (long piece cut or rent off): shard, slice, splinter

• slither

sliver (third-person singular simple present slivers, present participle slivering, simple past and past participle slivered)

1. (transitive) To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit.

   to sliver wood

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

   • Sir Walter Scott

     They'll sliver thee like a turnip.

• Elvirs, Silver, levirs, livers, livres, rivels, silver, svirel