I. ˈsplīn noun
( -s )
Etymology: origin unknown
1. : a thin wood, metal, or plastic strip : slat: as
a. : a loose tongue between two pieces of heavy subflooring used in place of a tongue-and-groove joint
b. : a flexible strip used as a guide in drawing curved lines
2. : feather key ; also : a keyway for a feather key
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. : to cut a keyway in for a feather key : slot
a splined shaft
2. : to attach or couple by means of a spline
an exterior of cedar logs splined together — American Builder
shell and sleeve assembly splined to the armature shaft — Joseph Heitner
III. noun
also spline function
: a function that is defined on an interval, is used to approximate a given function, and is composed of pieces of simple functions defined on subintervals and joined at their endpoints with a suitable degree of smoothness