▪ I. autopsy, n.
(ˈɔːtɒpsɪ, -ˈtɒpsɪ)
[ad. mod.L. autopsia (also used in Eng.), a. Gr. αὐτοψία, n. of quality f. αὔτοπτ-ος seeing (or seen) for oneself (see auto-1, optic); cf. F. autopsie.]
1. Seeing with one's own eyes, eye-witnessing; personal observation or inspection.
| 1651 Wittie tr. Primrose's Pop. Err. i. xiv. 53 Or by autopsie, when by our observation, wee get a certaine knowledge of things. 1858 De Quincey Miracles Wks. VIII. 237 The defect of autopsy may be compensated by sufficient testimony of a multitude. |
2. Dissection of a dead body, so as to ascertain by actual inspection its internal structure, and esp. to find out the cause or seat of disease; post-mortem examination.
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iii. 161 The Cartesian attempts to solve the motion of the heart mechanically seem..confuted by autopsy and experiment. 1859 Mahony Mod. Lat. Poets ii. 548 Had an autopsia taken place after his death. 1881 Times 22 Sept. 4/1 The physicians' autopsy [of President Garfield] shows the bullet to be nowhere near where it was supposed to be. |
b. fig. Critical dissection.
| 1835 Hist. Eng. in Lardner's Cab. Cycl. IV. viii. 375 He [James I.] is, moreover, one of the least inviting subjects of moral autopsia. 1879 M. E. Braddon Vixen III. 143 This autopsy of a fine lady's poem. |
▪ II. autopsy, v.
(ˈɔːtɒpsɪ, ɔːˈtɒpsɪ)
[f. autopsy n.]
trans. To perform an autopsy on or make a post-mortem examination of (a body).
| 1900 Jrnl. Exper. Med. V. 257 One of the pigs was killed and autopsied, with the result that its organs..were found to be entirely free of lesions. 1919 Sachs in S. Paget Sir V. Horsley ii. iv. 190 It was the first walrus that had been autopsied in London for many years. 1969 Nature 19 Apr. 287/1 The rats..were autopsied on the thirteenth day of pregnancy. |