to split or break (a larger group) into separate factions or independent groups.
6.
Obsolete. to secure or support by a splint or splints, as a broken limb.
verb (used without object)
7.
to be split or broken into splinters.
8.
to break off in splinters.
Origin
1350-1400;Middle English < Middle Dutch or Middle Low German; cf. splint
Related forms
splinterless, adjective
splintery, adjective
unsplintered, adjective
Synonyms
1. sliver. 8. separate, part, split.
Examples from the web for splinter
Non-alphas spin off to form splinter packs, because it is the only way they will get to breed.
Every thistle, splinter, butterfly over the drainage ditches.
Beyond, crooked paths of water splinter out into thickets bathed in shadows.
Pain may not be felt and the splinter may or may not be visible.
splinter of teenage mutant ninja turtles fame is a mutated rat.
British Dictionary definitions for splinter
splinter
/ˈsplɪntə/
noun
1.
a very small sharp piece of wood, glass, metal, etc, characteristically long and thin, broken off from a whole
2.
a metal fragment, from the container of a shell, bomb, etc, thrown out during an explosion
verb
3.
to reduce or be reduced to sharp fragments; shatter
4.
to break or be broken off in small sharp fragments
Word Origin
C14: from Middle Dutch splinter; see splint
Word Origin and History for splinter
n.
late 14c., from Middle Dutch splinter, splenter "a splinter," related to splinte (see splint). The adjective (as in splinter party) is first recorded 1935, from the noun.
v.
1580s, from splinter (n.). Figurative sense from c.1600. Related: Splintered; splintering.