sb. pl. Now dial. [Altered form of FITTERS, associated with FLITTER v.] Fragments, torn pieces; splinters, tatters. Chiefly in phrases, as to dash, break or tear info, to flitters.
1620. R. Waller, in Lismore Papers (1887), Ser. II. II. 247. They two are torne all to flitters.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 90. They suddenly cut and broak the ship to flitters, every one snatching a planck, endeavouring to reach the shore.
a. 1734. North, Exam., I. ii. § 123 (1740), 97. Dashed into Flitters at a Stroke.
c. 1817. Hogg, Confessions of a Fanatic, in Tales & Sk. (1837), V. 205. Part of a skeleton came up, but no flesh, save a little that was hanging in dark flitters about the spine.
