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esp. by force; to divide in the direction of the grain layers; to rive; to cleave; as, to split a piece of timber or a board; to split a gem; to split a sheepskin. Cold winter split the rocks in twain. Dryden.

An electric dynamometer having two coils so arranged that one carries the primary current, and the other the secondary current, of a transformer.

A simple infinitive with to, having a modifier between the verb and the to; as in, to largely decrease. Called also cleft infinitive.

A key split at one end like a split pin, for the same purpose.

In croquet, etc., a shot or stroke in which one drives in different directions one's own and the opponent's ball placed in contact.

A stitch used in stem work to produce a fine line, much used in old church embroidery to work the hands and faces of figures.

Timber sawn into lengths and then split.

= Point switch.

= Split pulley.

A california market fish (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus) belonging to the Carp family.

Having a forked tongue, as that of snakes and some lizards.

The Fissipedia.

One who, or that which, splits.

Deafening; disagreeably loud or shrill; as, ear-splitting strains.

cessively nice or needless distinctions in reasoning; one who quibbles. "The caviling hairsplitter." De Quincey.

The act or practice of making trivial distinctions. The ancient hairsplitting technicalities of special pleading. Charles Sumner.

A device by which a single-phase current is split into two or more currents differing in phase. It is used in starting single-phase induction motors.

The dephasing of the two parts of a single alternating current in two dissimilar branches of a given circuit.

To split again.

A split of a sheepskin; one of the thin sections made by splitting a sheepskin with a cutting knife or machine.