Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A slender piece cut, split, or broken off; a splinter: slivers of broken glass.
- n. A small narrow piece, portion, or plot: a sliver of land.
- n. A continuous strand of loose wool, flax, or cotton, ready for drawing and twisting.
- v. To split or become split into slivers.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A piece, as of wood, roughly or irregularly broken, rent, or cut off or out, generally lengthwise or with the grain; a splinter: as, to get a sliver under one's fingernail; the lightning tore off great slivers of bark; hence, any fragment; a small bit.
- n. In spinning, a continuous strand of wool, cotton, or other fiber, in a loose untwisted condition, ready for slubbing or roving.
- n. A small wooden instrument used in spinning yarn.
- n. The side of a small fish cut off in one piece from head to tail, to be used as bait; a sort of kibblings.
- n. A very fine edge left at the end of a piece of timber.
- n. plural The loose breeches or slops of the early part of the seventeenth century.
- To cut or divide into long thin pieces, or into very small pieces; cut or rend lengthwise; splinter; break or tear off.
- To cut each side of (a fish) away in one piece from head to tail; take two slivers from. See sliver, n., 4.
- To split; become split.
Wiktionary
- n. A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment; a splinter.
- n. 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.
- n. Bait made of pieces of small fish. Compare kibblings.
- n. US, New York A narrow high-rise apartment building.
- v. transitive To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit; as, to sliver wood.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit.
- n. A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment, as of glass; a splinter.
- n. 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 preceeds spinning.
- n. Local, U.S. Bait made of pieces of small fish. Cf. Kibblings.
WordNet 3.0
- v. break up into splinters or slivers
- v. form into slivers
- n. a small thin sharp bit or wood or glass or metal
- n. a thin fragment or slice (especially of wood) that has been shaved from something
- v. divide into slivers or splinters
Etymologies
- Middle English slivere, sliver from Middle English sliven ("to cut, cleave, split"), from Old English -slīfan (as in tōslīfan ("to split, split up")). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English slivere, from sliven, to split, from Old English slīfan. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Just for the simple fact the sliver is the most voyeuristic movie I have ever seen.”
“You guys have left them only a very thin sliver of ground to stand on.”
“Since 1980 a relentless attack on the middle class has concentrated an ever-greater share of national wealth on the hands of a thin sliver of an increasingly aggressive elite; it is reaching its natural culmination in the foreclosure crisis.”
The Washington Post: How to Fix the Foreclosure Mess (Because America Is Like Secretariat)
“I think that sliver is smaller than you think it is.”
“He is, however, a damn good writer, who can easily cram a juicy epic into a thin sliver of a book: in this case, a 50-page worth Situation.”
“CowboyCooler -- A sliver is a slice that is the length of the onion and about 1/4 inch wide.”
“Currently your magazine has become a thin sliver of it's glory days.”
“Well, my guess is that “thin sliver” of property taxes pretty much funds all the schools, but I really wanted to stand up and ask – what about the capital they have invested in the city?”
“His universe creator uses a piece of uranium-doped glass to create a steam of alpha particles, which are then detected using a thin sliver of scintillating crystal.”
“Using a razor blade cut a thin sliver off of both the tip and base of the seed.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sliver’.
-
• Little pains in my butt
Annoying, little, things. In a single word.
psoriasis, interjections, sultriness, spam, mice, mosquitoes, dust, mould, ipod, pimple, blister, sliver and 93 more...
-
gangster
random gangster lingo and street slang with extra absurdities.
( open list, randomness )
related:
http://www....swagga, chinga, slams, blitzy, earf, manor, code name, rekkid, weight, feather, kong, swisher and 323 more...
-
IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
-
Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 185 more...
-
Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
-
Not Much
smidgeon, iota, scintilla, dab, bit, trace, touch, soupçon, crumb, dash, drop, whit and 19 more...
-
Fallacious Favourites
spurious, defunct, fungible, palimpsestic, lascivious, sliver, reiterate, efface, fiefdom, rambunctious, clamorous, verbatim and 4 more...
-
thing
apron, lard, clove, camphor, alfalfa, amber, caraway, juniper, kohl, lute, shale, glyph and 142 more...
-
summerwing's Words
proctosigmoidoscopy, horrendous, cichlid, implode, nostalgic, firmament, elucidate, quintet, rhombus, mack, pithy, rambunctious and 304 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
-
Buttery
Words that make me feel cozy
Feather, Mug, Knit, Socks, Snug, Soft, Butter, Nugget, Noodle, Curl, Billow, Lounge and 315 more...
-
Miscellany
avid, shard, begone, gibes, romantic, inspiration, dashing, affliction, daring, elocution, hegemony, supercalifragilis... and 97 more...
-
nighthawks at the diner
being words from Tom Waits songs.
vinyl, cigarette, rhinestone, naugahyde, margarine, vermouth, gin, platinum, wurlitzer, menthol, oldsmobile, asphalt and 90 more...
-
theastic's Words
cellar, stalemate, wrought, opal, tyrant, squelch, squab, linen, tartan, paisley, scope, siren and 395 more...
-
Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
-
Favorite Words
quixotic, assonance, palindrome, plebeian, mezzanine, propinquity, etymology, antihero, intrepid, refractions, lawless, sesquipedalian and 237 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sliver.

ruzuzu "The side of a small fish cut off in one piece from head to tail, to be used as bait; a sort of kibblings."
--Cent. Dict. Oct 22, 2012