sliver

A slender piece cut, split, or broken off; a splinter.

A small narrow piece, portion, or plot.

A continuous strand of loose fiber, such as wool, flax, silk, or cotton, ready to be roved or spun.

To split or become split into slivers.

A piece, as of wood, roughly or irregularly broken, rent, or cut off or out, generally lengthwise or with the grain; a splinter: as, to get a sliver under one’s fingernail; the lightning tore off great slivers of bark; hence, any fragment; a small bit.

In spinning, a continuous strand of wool, cotton, or other fiber, in a loose untwisted condition, ready for slubbing or roving.

A small wooden instrument used in spinning yarn.

The side of a small fish cut off in one piece from head to tail, to be used as bait; a sort of kibblings.

A very fine edge left at the end of a piece of timber.

plural The loose breeches or slops of the early part of the seventeenth century.