disˈmembered, ppl. a.
[f. prec. + -ed1.]
1. Deprived of members or limbs; divided limb from limb; cut or broken in pieces; mangled, mutilated. a. lit.
| 1552 Huloet, Dismembred or lackynge some lymmes. a 1656 Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) 152 We have seen mountebanks, to swallow dismembered toads. 1752 Foote Taste ii. (ed. 4) 25 Let me embrace the dear, dismember'd Bust! 1827 Pollok Course T. viii, Old vases and dismembered idols. |
b. transf. and fig. (In quot. 1578 of leaves: Divided, cut.)
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens v. xlviii. 612 The leaves be almost lyke the leaves of Coriander, but dismembered and parted into smaller jagges or frengis. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 85 This dismembered empire, now in the hands of many. 1862 S. Lucas Secularia 5 Dubious fragments of a dismembered truth. |
c. Her. Of a charge representing an animal: Depicted without limbs or members; or, with the members separate from the body as if just cut off.
| 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 42 Howe many and sundrie wayes they [Lions] are borne in armes, as..Couped, Dismembred, Vulned. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Dismembered, in heraldry, is applied to birds that have neither feet nor legs; as also to lions, and other animals, whose members are separated. 1882 Cussans Her. vi. 90 A Lion rampant dismembered is borne by the Maitland Family. |
† 2. Cut off or severed, as a limb or member; severed from the main body. Obs.
| 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 729 When these poor dismembred members were brought to Rome, Antonius..commanded his head and his hands should..be set up over the pulpit. 1666 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual., The dismembred part of the Plant may retain the texture of its more stable parts. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 57 They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family. |