shathmont

[SHAFT MAN.] A measure of six inches. "Not a step, not a pace, not an inch, not a shathmont, as I may say." -Scott: Antiquary, ch. viii. shat-ter, *schat-er, v. t. & i. [A strengthened form of scatter (q. v.).] A. Transitive : 1. To break up at once in many pieces; to dash, burst, or part by violence into fragments; to rend, rive, or split into splinters. "You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." Moore: Farewell ! But wherever. 2. To break up, to disorder, to derange, to overthrow; as, His mind was shattered . 3. To scatter, to di ipate. "The winds exist. ph = f. shatter +B. In trans.: To be broken into fragments; to fall or come to pieces; to crumble to pieces. "The frosts have been so searching that the clods shat . ter readily."- London Daily Telegraph. shat-tër, s. [SHATTER, v.] One part of many into which anything is broken; a fragment. (Usuat y in the plural.) "Stick the candle so loose that it will fall upon the gla of the sconce, and break it into shatters ." -Swift: Instruct, to Servants. *shatter-brain, s. A carele , giddy person; a scatter-brain. shatter-brained, shatter-pated, adj. Disordered in intellect; intellectually weak; scatterbrained. "Whatever some shatter - brained and debauched per sons would fain persuade themselves and others."-Goodman: Winter Evening Conf . , pt. iii.