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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dismember \Dis*mem"ber\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Dismembered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Dismembering}.] [OF. desmembrer, F. d['e]membrer; pref. des- (L. dis) + OF. & F. membre limb. See {Member}.]
1. To tear limb from limb; to dilacerate; to disjoin member from member; to tear or cut in pieces; to break up.
Fowls obscene dismembered his remains. --Pope.
A society lacerated and dismembered. --Gladstone.
By whose hands the blow should be struck which would dismember that once mighty empire. --Buckle.
2. To deprive of membership. [Obs.]
They were dismembered by vote of the house. --R. North.
Syn: To disjoint; dislocate; dilacerate; mutilate; divide; sever.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
dismember
verb
1: separate the limbs from the body; "the tiger dismembered the tourist"
2: divide into pieces; "our department was dismembered when our funding dried up"; "The Empire was discerped after the war" [syn: {take apart}, {discerp}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
34 Moby Thesaurus words for "dismember": cripple, defoliate, denude, disassemble, dismantle, draw and quarter, flay, grill, impale, keelhaul, lacerate, maim, mangle, mayhem, mutilate, part, peel, pick to pieces, picket, pull apart, rack, separate, sever, shred, skin, strip, sunder, take apart, take down, tar and feather, tear apart, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, torture
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |