Sliver

Our evidence is no more than a tiny sliver of solid knowledge amidst the vast bog of doubts and speculations.

I'd only like a sliver, please.

I'll take a sliver of the cake.

There's a sliver of hope in this week's news, at least.

In both cases, a person is portrayed by the reactionaries as an insignificant sliver, tossed from side to side by the raging elements.

They weren't able to find a sliver of information on Santiago.

This is the tasting ritual, the lay Eucharist of cheese. The buyer squeezes the sliver of cheese between his fingers to test its consistency, sniffs it, and then tastes it as delicately as if it were the most subtle caviar.

A sliver of bone has punctured a lung, and a small surgical operation was needed to remove it (would he like to keep the bone as a memento?--it is in a phial by his bedside).

to sliver wood

slips of yew, Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse