Definition of "shred"

A fragment of something; a particle; a piece; also, a very small amount.  quotations  examples

A long, narrow piece (especially of fabric) cut or torn off; a strip; specifically, a piece of cloth or clothing.  quotations

1. (by extension) A thin strand or wisp, as of a cloud, mist, etc.  examples

2. (cooking) A thin strip of fruit peel, a vegetable, etc., cut so that it curls.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Three shreds of celery in a glass.

     1840, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “A Shabby Genteel Dinner, and Other Incidents of a Like Nature”, in “A Shabby Genteel Story”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume IV, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, page 254

(archaic) A piece of gold or silver lace or thread.  quotations

(rare) A shard or sherd (“a piece of broken glass or pottery”).  quotations

(obsolete) A tailor.  quotations

(transitive)

1. To cut or tear (something) into long, narrow pieces or strips.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Take a little grated Bread, ſome Beef-ſuet, yolks of hard Eggs, three Anchovies, a bit of an Onion, Salt and Pepper, Tyme and Winter-ſavory, twelve Oyſters, ſome Nutmeg grated; mix all theſe together, and ſhred them very fine, and work them up with raw Eggs like a paſte, and ſtuff your Mutton under the Skin in the thickeſt place, or where you pleaſe, and roaſt it; […]

     1729, E[liza] S[mith, “To Stuff a Shoulder or Leg of Mutton with Oysters”, in The Compleat Housewife: Or, Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion: […], 3rd edition, London: […] J. Pemberton, […], page 10

2. (specifically)

   1. To destroy (a document) by cutting or tearing into strips or small pieces that cannot easily be read, especially using a shredder.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • But then there was the awkward incident of the tearing of the writs. Nigel, to whom a lie was an impossibility, had to admit that with his own hands he had shredded those august documents.

        1905–1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, “How Nigel was Tried by the Abbot of Waverley”, in Sir Nigel, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published January 1906, page 53

   2. (cooking) To cut (fruit peel, a vegetable, etc.) into thin strips that curl.  examples

3. To separate (something) into small portions.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Hunger was shred into atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.

     1859, Charles Dickens, “The Wine-shop”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], book I (Recalled to Life), page 19

4. (figuratively, chiefly slang)

   1. To reduce (something) by a large percentage; to slash.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, never wanted his customers to worry about shipping – about how much it cost, or about how long it would take – and he relentlessly shredded delivery times to make shipping incidental to the purchasing experience.

        2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, archived from the original on 26 December 2021

   2. (music) Chiefly in rock and heavy metal: to play (a musical instrument (especially a guitar) or a piece of music) very fast.  examples

   3. (snowboarding, surfing) To cut through (snow, water, etc.) swiftly with one's snowboard, surfboard, etc.; (by extension) to move or ride along (a road, track, etc.) aggressively and rapidly.  examples

   4. (originally US) To convincingly defeat (someone); to thrash, to trounce.  examples

5. (archaic) To cut or sever (something) into two parts.  quotations

   Quotations

   • Then ſince (quoth ſhe) the terme of each mans life / For nought may leſſened nor enlarged bee, / Graunt this, that vvhen ye ſhred vvith fatall knife / His line, vvhich is the eldeſt of the three, / VVhich of them the ſhorteſt, as I ſee, / Eftſoones his life may paſſe into the next; […]

     1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, stanza 52, pages 35–36

6. (obsolete)

   1. To chop or cut (something) into pieces.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • Another vvafts his Blade about his head, / And ſhevvs them hovv their hãſtrings [hamstrings] he vvil ſhread.

        1627, Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Battaile of Agin Court”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for VVilliam Lee, […], published 1631, page 43

      • Seeſt thou this, bold bright blade? / This Sword ſhall ſhred thee as ſmall unto the Grave, / As minc'd meat for a Pie.

        1633 (first performance), Ben Jonson, “A Tale of a Tub. A Comedy […]”, in The Works of Ben Jonson, […] (Third Folio), London: […] Thomas Hodgkin, for H[enry] Herringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R[ichard] Chiswell, M. Wotton, G. Conyers, published 1692, Act IV, scene ii, page 525

      • Morality ſhreddeth ſinne as a garden knot; but Religion ſtubbeth it up by the roots.

        1658, Samuel Crook [i.e., Samuel Crooke], “The Moral Hypocrite is He, in whom Reason Putteth Religion out of Office”, in C[hristopher] B[arker], W[illiam] G[arret], editors, ΤΑ ΔΙΑΦΕΡΟΝΤΑ [TA DIAPHERONTA], or Divine Characters in Tvvo Parts, […], London: […] Adoniram Byfeild […], 1st part, page 40

      • How? speak more at length. Thou snippest off news as a housewife shreddeth leeks.

        1851, Henry Hayman, “Carthage”, in Dialogues of the Early Church: […], London: Skeffington and Southwell, […], part IV (The Shore of the Harbour), page 117

   2. To cut, lop, or strip (branches, etc.) off; also, to cut (a piece) from something.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • To call in queſtion the iuriſdiction of Archbiſhops, they affirme that no man is to take vpon him an office but hee that is called, as vvas Aaron: but they are not avvare, that the ſame poſition ſhreddeth avvay the vvilde autoritie of doctors, elders, conſiſtorie, conferences, & their abſurd and irregular Synodes, vvhich (as enemies in an aſſault enter the breach) vvould ſteale into the Church through the ruines thereof.

        1590, Matth[ew] Sutcliffe, “Of the Contrarietie of Their Discipline”, in A Treatise of Ecclesiasticall Discipline: […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Nevvberie, page 111

      • You ly, you ly, Gabriell: I know what you are about to ſaye, but He ſhred you off three leaves at one blowe.

        1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), page 130

      • [A]ll vſurie in it ovvne nature is biting, becauſe it biteth or ſhreddeth avvay ſome of the borrovvers ſubſtance.

        1604, George Downame, “What Vsurie is”, in Lectures on the XV. Psalme: […], London: […] Adam Islip for Cuthbert Burbie, […], page 194

      • [C]rooked Trees may be made ſtreight by ſhredding up of the Side-branches till you come above the Crook, vvhere they are young.

        1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, “Of Pruning Forest-trees”, in The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708, book XII, page 396

      • They durst not, for their island, shred / One golden ringlet from her head.

        1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Third. The Hostel, or Inn.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, stanza XVII, page 150

      • Every yard of this ground, excepting the path which we now occupy, is rendered dangerous, and well nigh impracticable, by snares and traps, armed with scythe-blades, which shred off the unwary passenger's limb as sheerly as a hedge-bill lops a hawthorn-sprig— […]

        1823, [Walter Scott], “The Wanderer”, in Quentin Durward. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., pages 41–42

      • [S]he fell to feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and doling alms to the Fakírs saying, "This be the reward of him who mortifieth the daughters of folk and devoureth their substance and shreddeth off their nostrils." She also sent to the women he had married and divorced, and gave them of his good the equivalent of their dowers and a solatium for losing their noses.

        1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Story of a Kazi who Bare a Babe. ”, in Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume IV, [London]: […] Burton Club […], page 179

   3. To prune or trim (a tree, a vineyard, etc.).  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • As for Timber-trees, it is beſt not to head them at all, but to ſhred them up to one ſingle Bough, if the Soil be good that you plant them in; […]

        1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, “Of Transplanting of Trees”, in The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708, book XII, pages 386–387

(intransitive)

1. To become separated into small portions.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • We couldn't see over the wall of smoke, and we couldn't see through it. But at last it began to shred away lazily, and by the end of another quarter-hour the land was clear and our curiosity was enabled to satisfy itself. No living creature was in sight!

     1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Battle of the Sand-belt”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, page 554

   • What is this that rises before me? Mist, mist, rolling mist with a square black tower above it. See it shreds out, it thins, it rises, and there lies a castle in a green plain, with the sea beneath it, and a great church within a bow-shot.

     1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “How the Blessed Hour of Sight Came to the Lady Tiphaine”, in The White Company […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], page 68

2. (bodybuilding) To reduce body weight due to fat and water before a competition.  examples

3. (snowboarding, surfing, etc.) To travel swiftly using a snowboard, surfboard, or vehicle.  examples

Synonym of shredded (“cut or torn into narrow strips or small pieces”)  quotations  examples