Smithereens

Blow ... to smithereens is too slangy for formal use; it is used in a quote further on in the Times article, and is the kind of vernacular phrase found in boys adventure comics. ❋ Unknown (2009)

"I think the best use you can put a rattlesnake to is to blow him into smithereens, which is what I am going to do." ❋ Edward Sylvester Ellis (1878)

The monkey was literally knocked to "smithereens," and the pieces that still adhered together were daubed all over with mud. ❋ Mayne Reid (1850)

"That's thrue, sor," put in Corporal Macan, who had lately regained his stripes after a long spell of good behaviour that atoned for his debauch at the Cape which lost him his rank; the Irishman now being engaged in serving the bow gun of the gunboat with the utmost deliberation, taking steady aim with each shot which he pitched into the cavalier of the nearest battery and knocking the gun into "smithereens" at his third attempt, though, for every weapon of the enemy which we silenced they seemed to bring a hundred others to bear on us. ❋ John B. [Illustrator] Greene (N/A)

"smithereens," and was about going to work upon the huge _stalagmite_ that blocked up the entrance, when he was interrupted by the Quan. ❋ Mayne Reid (1850)

"smithereens," or, as my companion more elegantly expressed it, "into the middle of next week." ❋ Mayne Reid (1850)

It's sole purpose is to lock my head into place with bolts and hold it absolutely still on a steel table so that precisely aimed beams of radiation way more powerful than any DC diss-ray can zap the remnants of my brain tumor into smithereens day after day for the next six weeks. ❋ Craig Crawford (2011)

Readers may want to pop a Dramamine before reading Casey's account of the RSS Discovery, a British research vessel that was nearly pounded to smithereens by a massive storm in the North Atlantic in 2000. ❋ John Lancaster (2010)

I actually did it from standing right there, you know, where they had, for instance, bombed into smithereens the American school there in Gaza. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Rosen earned the title during a debate last week, when he responded to a question about the controversial proposed Islamic center near ground zero in New York City by saying "I think they should be allowed to build it, following the hijacking of an Iranian plane right into that building and blow it to smithereens." ❋ The Huffington Post News Team (2010)

A political party exaggerated in a political ad, my God, let's all just start tearing our garters into smithereens! ❋ Unknown (2011)

I think they should be allowed to build it, followed by the hijacking of an Iranian plane right into that building and blow it to smithereens. ❋ David Sirota (2010)

Damn, did you see that [ship] [blown] into [smithereens] yesterday? ❋ Agnopunk (2009)

Wow, did you see that monster Johnny [Asiata] [cannon ball] on Paasi’s knee? Blew that glass joint to [smithereens]! ❋ Billy Smart’s Circus (2023)