potsherdn.adj.
/ˈpɒtʃəːd/, U.S. /ˈpɑtˌʃərd/ Now chiefly Archaeology.
A. n.
A fragment of a broken earthenware pot; a broken piece of pottery.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > clay compositions > baked clay > pottery or ceramics > [noun] > fragment or part of
shardc1000
potsherda1325
pot-lid1404
potscarc1450
test1545
shred1616
crock1850
pan-sherd1851
tesson1858
pot-shell1865
a1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Arun.) (1857) 171 Va quere breses en une teske [glossed] a pot-schoord [v.r. szherd].
a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Gi A laudable largesse I tell you for a lorde To prate for the patchynge of a pot sharde.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Job ii. 8 Iob..scraped of the etter off his sores with a potsherde.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. i. sig. Z8v They hew'd their helmes, and plates asunder brake, As they had potshares bene. View more context for this quotation
1611 Bible (King James) Isa. xlv. 9 Let the potsheard striue with the potsheards of the earth. View more context for this quotation
1639 G. Daniel Ecclus. xxii. 20 He that would teach the foole, his labour's lost As he that glews a pottsherd, broke to dust.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Orange Tree Lay some Oister-Shells or Pot-shards at the Bottom of his Tubs, that the Water may the sooner drain away.
1829 S. Shaw Hist. Staffs. Potteries vi. 157 All around their sides were thrown, for convenience..heaps of the broken pots, potsherds, (vulgar sherds,) and much rubbish containing refuse salt.
1857 S. Birch Hist. Anc. Pottery (1858) I. 64 Inscriptions were often written upon potsherds or trapezoidal fragments of vases.
1883 Proc. Soc. Biblical Archaeol. 5 84 The British Museum has lately acquired..a considerable number of ostraka or potsherds discovered at Elephantine, Thebes, and other places.
1907 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 20 Jan. 5/4 In the bottom of the pots,..place a potsherd, nearly covering the bottom of the pot, and on this put the drainage.
1948 D. Diringer Alphabet ii. v. 327 A potsherd from Old Ganja may contain an Albanian inscription.
1991 Antiquity 45 883/2 An abundance of potsherds ranging from Gallo-Roman to High Medieval date drew the Groupe Archéologique to the spot.
B. adj.
(attributive). Of, or relating to a potsherd or potsherds; suggestive of a potsherd, esp. in the quality of being broken or imperfect, or in allusion to Isaiah 45:9.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [adjective]
salec1299
bastarda1348
sorry1372
slight1393
shrewd1426
singlec1449
backc1450
soberc1450
lesser1464
silly?a1500
starven1546
mockado1577
subaltern1578
bastardly1583
wooden1592
starved1604
perishing1605
starveling1611
minor1612
starvy1647
potsherd1655
low1727
la-la1800
waif1824
lathen1843
one-eyed1843
snide1859
bobbery1873
jerkwater1877
low-grade1878
shoddy1882
tinhorn1886
jerk1893
cheapie1898
shaganappi1900
buckeye1906
reach-me-down1907
pissy1922
crappy1928
cruddy1935
el cheapo1967
pound shop1989
1655 J. Phillips Satyr against Hypocrites 5 Straight then the Clerk began with potsheard voice To grope a tune.
a1680 S. Charnock Several Disc. Existence of God (1682) 485 His Almightiness is above..our Pot-sheard strength, as his Infiniteness is above..our Purblind Understandings.
1974 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 2 Nov. 5/4 Potsherd ballots cast more than 2,400 years ago have been unearthed by archeologists.
1985 O. Imasogie Afr. Trad. Relig. (ed. 2) iii. 40 Unlike the ‘good’ man the wicked man is sent to the ‘potsherd heaven’ where he is to suffer eternally for his sins.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.a1325