shatter

Meaning

Verb

1. To violently break something into pieces.
2. To destroy or disable something.
3. To smash, or break into tiny pieces.
4. To dispirit or emotionally defeat.
5. Of seeds: to be dispersed upon ripening.
6. (obsolete) To scatter about.

Noun

1. A fragment of anything shattered.
2. A (pine) needle.
3. (slang) A form of concentrated cannabis.

Hyphenated as

shat‧ter

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈʃæt.ə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From Middle English schateren (“to scatter, dash”), an assibilated form of Middle English scateren ("to scatter"; see scatter), from Old English scaterian, from Proto-Germanic *skat- (“to smash, scatter”), perhaps ultimately imitative. Cognate with Dutch schateren (“to burst out laughing”), Low German schateren, Albanian shkatërroj (“to destroy, devastate”). Doublet of scatter.