Category:Shard

Shard, n.

Defn: a plant; chard. [obs.] Dryden.

Shard Shard, n. Etym: [as. sceard, properly a p. p. from the root of scearn To shear, to cut; akin to d. schaard a fragment, g. scharte a notch, Icel. skar. See shear, and cf. Sherd.] [written also sheard, and Sherd.]

1. A piece or fragment of an earthen vessel, or a like brittle Substance, as the shell of an egg or snail. Shak. The precious dish broke into shards of beauty on the board. E. Arnold.

2. (zoöl.)

Defn: the hard wing case of a beetle. They are his shards, and he their beetle. Shak.

3. A gap in a fence. [obs.] Stanyhurst.

4. A boundary; a division. [obs. & r.] Spenser.