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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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SHAT'TER, v.t.
1. To braek at once into many pieces; to dash, burst, rend or part by violence into fragments; as, explosion shatters a rock or bomb; lightning shatters the sturdy oak; steam shatters a boiler; a monarchy is shattered by revolt.
2. To rend; to crack; to split; to rive into splinters.
3. To dissapate; to make incapable of close and continued application; as a man of shattered humor.
4. To disorder; to derange; to render delirious; as, to shatter teh brain, the man seems to be shattered in his intellect.
SHAT'TER, v.i. To be broken into fragments; to fall or crumble to pieces by any force applied.
Some shatter and fly in many places. Bacon.
To
break at once into many pieces; to dash, burst, or part violently into
fragments; to rend into splinters; as, an explosion shatters a
rock or a bomb; too much steam shatters a boiler; an oak is
shattered by lightning.
A monarchy was shattered to pieces, and divided amongst revolted subjects. Locke. To disorder; to derange; to render unsound;
as, to be shattered in intellect; his constitution was
shattered; his hopes were shattered.
A man of a loose, volatile, and shattered humor. Norris. To scatter about.
[Obs.]
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. Milton. To be broken into
fragments; to fall or crumble to pieces by any force
applied.
Some fragile bodies break but where the force is; some shatter and fly in many places. Bacon. A fragment of anything
shattered; -- used chiefly or soley in the phrase into
shatters; as, to break a glass into shatters.
Swift. | ||||||||