Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun plural Fragments or splintered pieces; bits.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Small fragments.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun plural colloq. Fragments; atoms; smithers.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Fragments orsplintered pieces ;numerous tiny disconnected items.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a collection of small fragments considered as a whole
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Blow ... to smithereens is too slangy for formal use; it is used in a quote further on in the Times article, and is the kind of vernacular phrase found in boys adventure comics.
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"I think the best use you can put a rattlesnake to is to blow him into smithereens, which is what I am going to do."
Two Boys in Wyoming A Tale of Adventure (Northwest Series, No. 3) Edward Sylvester Ellis 1878
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The monkey was literally knocked to "smithereens," and the pieces that still adhered together were daubed all over with mud.
Popular Adventure Tales Mayne Reid 1850
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The monkey was literally knocked to "smithereens," and the pieces that still adhered together were daubed all over with mud.
The Forest Exiles The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon Mayne Reid 1850
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"That's thrue, sor," put in Corporal Macan, who had lately regained his stripes after a long spell of good behaviour that atoned for his debauch at the Cape which lost him his rank; the Irishman now being engaged in serving the bow gun of the gunboat with the utmost deliberation, taking steady aim with each shot which he pitched into the cavalier of the nearest battery and knocking the gun into "smithereens" at his third attempt, though, for every weapon of the enemy which we silenced they seemed to bring a hundred others to bear on us.
Crown and Anchor Under the Pen'ant John B. [Illustrator] Greene
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"smithereens," and was about going to work upon the huge _stalagmite_ that blocked up the entrance, when he was interrupted by the Quan.
Bruin The Grand Bear Hunt Mayne Reid 1850
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"smithereens," or, as my companion more elegantly expressed it, "into the middle of next week."
Ran Away to Sea Mayne Reid 1850
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Readers may want to pop a Dramamine before reading Casey's account of the RSS Discovery, a British research vessel that was nearly pounded to smithereens by a massive storm in the North Atlantic in 2000.
Susan Casey's "The Wave," on monstrous ocean waves, reviewed by John Lancaster John Lancaster 2010
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Readers may want to pop a Dramamine before reading Casey's account of the RSS Discovery, a British research vessel that was nearly pounded to smithereens by a massive storm in the North Atlantic in 2000.
Susan Casey's "The Wave," on monstrous ocean waves, reviewed by John Lancaster John Lancaster 2010
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Readers may want to pop a Dramamine before reading Casey's account of the RSS Discovery, a British research vessel that was nearly pounded to smithereens by a massive storm in the North Atlantic in 2000.
Susan Casey's "The Wave," on monstrous ocean waves, reviewed by John Lancaster John Lancaster 2010
devans00 commented on the word smithereens
This word is said in Yosemite Sam's voice in my mind.
June 17, 2008
skipvia commented on the word smithereens
As is varmint. :-)
June 17, 2008