noun

• A long, narrow piece (especially of fabric) cut or torn off; a strip; specifically, a piece of cloth or clothing.
• A long, narrow piece (especially of fabric) cut or torn off; a strip; specifically, a piece of cloth or clothing.
  "Three shreds of celery in a glass."
• (archaic) A piece of gold or silver lace or thread.
  "But, vvhen a tvvelvemonth paſs'd avvay, / Jack found his goddeſs made of clay; / Found half the charms that deck'd her face, / Aroſe from povvder, ſhreds, or lace; […]"
• (rare) A shard or sherd (“a piece of broken glass or pottery”).
  "And when he neared Brandon he pulled up, sorted his pots, kept the whole ones, threw the shreds at the rabbits, and walked on into Brandon solemnly, leading the mare, and crying "Pots!""

verb

• (transitive)
  "Take a little grated Bread, ſome Beef-ſuet, yolks of hard Eggs, three Anchovies, a bit of an Onion, Salt and Pepper, Tyme and VVinter-ſavory, tvvelve Oyſters, ſome Nutmeg grated; mix all theſe together, and ſhred them very fine, and vvork them up vvith ravv Eggs like a paſte, and ſtuff your Mutton under the Skin in the thickeſt place, or vvhere you pleaſe, and roaſt it; […]"
• (transitive)
  "But then there was the awkward incident of the tearing of the writs. Nigel, to whom a lie was an impossibility, had to admit that with his own hands he had shredded those august documents."
• (transitive)
• (transitive)
  "Hunger was shred into atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil."