eviscerate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to remove the internal organs or entrails from a person or animal

   The biology class observed how the specimen had been eviscerated for examination.

2. 2
   verb

   to remove the contents of an organ, cavity, or other structure

   The surgeon had to eviscerate the damaged eye after the severe injury.

3. 3
   verb

   figurative: to deprive a law, argument, institution, or work of its essential force or content

   The final amendments eviscerated the bill's consumer protections.

From Latin eviscerare, 'to disembowel,' formed from e- or ex-, 'out,' + viscera, 'internal organs.' Figurative use treats a rule, argument, or institution as a body whose vital contents have been removed.

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