splitting

Very severe.

Very severe, or in some way extreme, as if it were likely to cause something to split.

Very rapid.

An act denoted by the verb ‘split’; specifically, in harvesting tobacco, the cleaving of the stalk nearly to the base, with the purpose of ‘hanging,’ i.e. placing it astride a stick for curing: practised with heavy export tobacco. For other methods see pegging, 6, and spearing, 1.

An instance where something splits.