Splice
/splaɪs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo join two pieces together, especially wires, film, or rope.
Extra definitions
verb; nounTo join two pieces.
verb; nounA place where things join.
verb; nounA joint made by joining ends.
Sentence Examples
Technicians splice cables.
The film contains a visible splice.
She learned to splice ropes.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
None
Word Origin & History
Circa 1525, borrowed from Middle Dutch splissen (Modern Dutch splitsen); akin to Middle Dutch splitten (“to split”), German spleißen (“to split, splice”), Spliss (“split ends, hair breakage”), French épisser (also from Dutch). The Dutch word originally referred only to the fraying of the ropes' ends but was then also used for the entire process of fraying and retying; hence the peculiar semantic development from “split” to “join”. The same development occurred in German.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
“But come, it's getting dreadful late, you had better be turning flukes--it's a nice bed; Sal and me slept in that ere bed the night we were spliced.”
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
“Ah! thinkin’ o’ gettin’ spliced, you two?”
— 1937, Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Technicians ____ cables.