disˈmemberment
[f. dismember v. + -ment: cf. OF. desmembrement, mod.F. dé-.]
1. The act of depriving of members or limbs, or of dividing limb from limb.
| 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 45 The..dismemberments and lingering deaths that insects often suffer. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 245 Thus dismemberment is now the usual punishment for crimes, whereby death is supposed to be earned. |
2. transf. and fig. Division of a whole into parts or sections, so as to destroy its integrity; cutting to pieces, partition (e.g. of a country or empire).
| a 1751 Bolingbroke The Occasional Writer No. 11 (R.) To prevent the dismemberment of their monarchy. 1772 Ann. Reg. 2 The present violent dismemberment and partition of Poland. 1849 Cobden Speeches 69 Now, don't give faith to the idea..that self-government for the colonies is the same thing as dismemberment of the empire. 1866 Felton Anc. & Mod. Gr. I. vii. 111 Modern criticism has..attempted the same process of dismemberment as with the Iliad. |
b. Separation from the main body. rare.
| 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. ii, Aversion..to the dismemberment of their country from the Aragonese monarchy. Ibid. I. v. 233 Isabella..would not consent to the dismemberment of a single inch of the Castilian territory. |
c. quasi-concr. A detached part formed by separation from the main body.
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 98 This order approaches more near to Urticeæ and Cupuliferæ than either Plataneæ or Salicineæ, which may be considered dismemberments of it. 1873 Mivart Elem. Anat. iv. 169 An extra bone which exists in many vertebrates..is most probably a dismemberment of the scaphoid. |
3. Expulsion or cutting off from membership.
| 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) III. 262 Reports from the Committee of Privileges and Dismemberment. |