Shatter
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈʃæt.ə(r)/
- Rhymes: -ætə(r)
Origin
From Middle English schateren ("to scatter, dash"), an assilibated form of Middle English scateren ("to scatter"; see scatter), from Old English *scaterian, scateran. Cognate with Dutch schateren ("to burst out laughing"), Low German schateren, Albanian shkatërroj ("to destroy, devastate").
Verb
- (transitive) to violently break something into pieces.The miners used dynamite to shatter rocks.a high-pitched voice that could shatter glassThe old oak tree has been shattered by lightning.
- (transitive) to destroy or disable something.
- (intransitive) to smash, or break into tiny pieces.
- (transitive) to dispirit or emotionally defeatto be shattered in intellect; to have shattered hopes, or a shattered constitution
- 1984 Martyn Burke, The commissar's report, p36Your death will shatter him. Which is what I want. Actually, I would prefer to kill him.
- 1992 Rose Gradym "Elvis Cures Teen's Brain Cancer!" Weekly World News, Vol. 13, No. 38 (23 June, 1992), p41A CAT scan revealed she had an inoperable brain tumor. The news shattered Michele's mother.
- 2006 A. W. Maldonado, Luis Muñoz MarÃn: Puerto Rico's democratic revolution, p163The marriage, of course, was long broken but Munoz knew that asking her for a divorce would shatter her.
- Norrisa man of a loose, volatile, and shattered humour
- (obsolete) To scatter about.
- MiltonShatter your leaves before the mellowing year.