splinter

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A sharp, slender piece, as of wood, bone, glass, or metal, split or broken off from a main body.
2. n. A splinter group.
3. v. To split or break into sharp, slender pieces; form splinters. See Synonyms at break.
4. v. To cause to splinter.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To split or rend into long thin pieces; shiver.
2. To support by a splint, as a broken limb; splint.
3. To be split or rent into long pieces; shiver.
4. n. A sharp-edged fragment of anything split or shivered off more or less in the direction of its length; a thin piece (in proportion to its length) of wood or other solid substance rent from the main body; a splint.

Wiktionary

1. n. A long, sharp fragment of material; often wood.
2. n. A group that formed by splitting off from a larger membership.
3. v. intransitive To come apart into long sharp fragments.
4. v. transitive To cause to break apart into long sharp fragments.
5. v. figuratively, of a group To break, or cause to break, into factions.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To split or rend into long, thin pieces; to shiver.
2. v. To fasten or confine with splinters, or splints, as a broken limb.
3. v. To become split into long pieces.
4. n. A thin piece split or rent off lengthwise, as from wood, bone, or other solid substance; a thin piece; a sliver.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. withdraw from an organization or communion
2. v. break up into splinters or slivers
3. n. a small thin sharp bit or wood or glass or metal
4. v. divide into slivers or splinters