What or where are "smithereens" as in ..blown to S.?

Answer 1

smithereens - a collection of small fragments considered as a whole; "Berlin was bombed to smithereens"; "his hopes were dashed to smithereens"; "I wanted to smash him to smithereens"; "the toilet bowl ws blown to smitereens"

Word Origin: From Irish Gaelic smidirn, diminutive of smiodar, meaning small fragment

Answer 2

"Smithereens" is a great word meaning "small fragments" or "tiny bits," and is usually found in the phrases "blown to smithereens" or the alliterative "smashed to smithereens." A typical use of the word can be found in a Time magazine story about cosmology from 1976: "The result is another kind of supernova, a fantastic explosion that blows the star to smithereens, dispersing into space most of the remaining elements that it had manufactured during its lifetime."

"Smithereens" first appeared in English in 1829 in the form "smiddereens," and most likely was borrowed from the Irish "smidirin," meaning "small bit or fragment."

Answer 3

Smithereens are tiny particles of matter.
If something is blown to smithereens it has been blown into many tiny pieces. So small in fact that you might not be able to tell what it was originally.

Answer 4

When an object has been "blown to smithereens" it has been reduced to small, roughly uniform pieces that are no longer identifiable as what they used to be.

Answer 5

Main Entry: smith·er·eens
Pronunciation: "smi-[th]&-'rEnz
Function: noun plural
Etymology: perhaps from Irish smidiríní

FRAGMENTS, BITS

Answer 6

"smithereens : "fragments," 1829, from Ir. smidirin, dim. of smiodar "fragment," perhaps with dim. ending as in Colleen."

Answer 7

That would be blown to lots of bits and pieces

Answer 8

Its an anglised version of an old Gaelic word 'smidirn', meaning tiny little pieces.

Answer 9

They're kind of like leatherettes.