Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Shard \Shard\ (sh[aum]rd), n.
   A plant; chard. [Obs.] --Dryden.

Shard \Shard\, n. [AS. sceard, properly a p. p. from the root of
   scearn to shear, to cut; akin to D. schaard a fragment, G.
   scharte a notch, Icel. skar[eth]. See {Shear}, and cf.
   {Sherd}.] [Written also {sheard}, and {sherd}.]
   1. A piece or fragment of an earthen vessel, or a like
      brittle substance, as the shell of an egg or snail.
      --Shak.

            The precious dish Broke into shards of beauty on the
            board.                                --E. Arnold.

   2. (Zo["o]l.) The hard wing case of a beetle.

            They are his shards, and he their beetle. --Shak.

   3. A gap in a fence. [Obs.] --Stanyhurst.

   4. A boundary; a division. [Obs. & R.] --Spenser.

Source : WordNet®

shard
     n : a broken piece of a brittle artifact [syn: {sherd}, {fragment}]