esquirla

Spanish

FWOTD – 8 January 2023

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

esquirla f (plural esquirlas)

(piece of) shrapnel
- 1921, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Las plumas del caburé:
  los proyectiles levantaban esquirlas de su coraza
  the projectiles were bringing up shrapnel from his cuirass
fragment; shard
esquirlas de oro
shards of gold
(figurative) fragment; glimmer; chink
- 1994, Jorge Juan Eiroa, La prehistoria I:
  Después, las esquirlas de hueso o cuerno eran sometidas a un proceso de regularización de la superficie, mediante un raspador
  Afterwards, the bone or horn fragments were subjected to a surface regularization process, using a scraper.
- 1914, José Ortega y Gasset, Arroyos y oropéndolas:
  La oropéndola da un denso grito de su garganta, tan musical que parece una esquirla arrancada al canto del ruiseñor […]
  The oriole lets out a dense cry from its throat, so musical that it sounds like a fragment of a nightingale's cry […]