Advertisement

shatter (v.)

early 14c., transitive, probably a variant of Middle English scateren (see scatter (v.)). Compare Old Dutch schetteren Low German schateren. Formations such as scatter-brained had parallel forms in shatter-brained, etc. Intransitive sense from 1560s. Related: Shattered; shattering. Carlyle (1841) used shatterment. Shatters "fragments" is from 1630s.

Others are reading

Advertisement
Definitions of shatter from WordNet

shatter (v.)
break into many pieces;
The wine glass shattered
shatter (v.)
damage or destroy;
The news of her husband's death shattered her life
shatter (v.)
cause to break into many pieces;
shatter the plate
From wordnet.princeton.edu