anatomize

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
   • Then let them anotomize Regan, ſee vvhat breeds about her / Hart[,] is there any cauſe in nature that makes this hardnes, […]c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […]...
   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
   • I ſpeake but brotherly of him, but ſhould I anathomize him to thee, as hee is, I muſt bluſh, and vveepe, and thou muſt look pale and vvonder.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

   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...
   • Tell me, philosopher, thou who arrogatest to thyself the proud name, and who callest the cloud a vapour, and anatomizest the free and ambient air into thy wretched hydrogen and nitrogen,—tell me, dost thou know what it is to shed the tear of rapture, or indulge the sweet pain of romance?1835, [John George Hamilton Bourne], chapter XII, in The Picture: And the Prosperous Man. […], volume I, London: James Cochrane and Co., […], →OCLC, page 268
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...
   • Impiety? Not if I know myself! / Not if you know the heart and soul, I bare, / I bid you cut, hack, slash, anatomize, / Till peccant part be found and flung away!1873 January 23, Robert Browning, “Part IV”, in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country: Or Turf and Towers, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 231