anatomise

Verb

anatomize (third-person singular simple present anatomizes, present participle anatomizing, simple past and past participle anatomized)

1. (British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, transitive) To cut up or dissect (the body of a human being or an animal), specifically for the purpose of investigating its anatomy.
   • VVho but a Foppe vvil labour to anatomize a Flye?1592, Tho[mas] Nashe, “To the Gentlemen Readers”, in Strange Newes, of the Intercepting Certaine Letters and a Convoy of Verses, […], London: […] Iohn Danter, […], →OCLC, signature B, verso
   1. (British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, transitive) To punish (someone) by post mortem dissection following execution.
      • […] Surgeon's Hall, where malefactors were anatomised after execution—a Sanguinary but Salutary custom—was in the Old Bailey, over against the leads of the Sessions House […]1863, George Augustus Sala, “Of Certain Ticklish Ups and Downs in My Life: Amongst Others of My Being Pressed for Service in the Fleet”, in The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous: […], volume...
2. (British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, transitive) To cut up or dissect (a plant or one of its parts) to investigate its structure.
3. (British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, figuratively) To scrutinize (something) down to the most minute detail.
   • Near-synonyms: atomize, analyze

   Synonyms:

   atomize, analyze

4. (British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, figuratively) To chemically analyse (a substance).
   • Laſtly, it can not be othervviſe but that the fire, in all this vvhile of continuall application to the body it thus anatomiſeth, hath hardned and as it vvere roſted ſome partes into ſuch greatneſſe and dryneſſe as they vvill not fly, not can be carried vp vvith any moderate heate.1644, Kenelme [i.e., Kenelm] Digby, “Of the Dissolution of Mixed Bodies”, in Two Treatises. In the One of which, the Nature of Bodies; in the Other, the Nature of Mans Soule; is Looked into: In Way...
5. (British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, intransitive) To cut up or dissect the body of a human being or an animal.
   • The most learned philosopher […] might dissect, anatomise, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him.1831 October 31, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, chapter II, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages...