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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dissever

Dissever \Dis*sev"er\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dissevered; p. pr. & vb. n. Dissevering.] [OE. dessevrer; pref. des- (L. dis-) + sevrer to sever, F. sevrer to wean, L. separate to separate. In this word the prefix is intensive. See Dis-, and Sever.] To part in two; to sever thoroughly; to sunder; to disunite; to separate; to disperse.

The storm so dissevered the company . . . that most of therm never met again.
--Sir P. Sidney.

States disserved, discordant, belligerent.
--D. Webster.

Dissever

Dissever \Dis*sev"er\, v. i. To part; to separate.
--Chaucer.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
dissever

late 13c., from Anglo-French deseverer, Old French dessevrer (10c.), from des- (see dis-) + sevrer (see sever). Related: Dissevered; dissevering; disseverance; disseveration.

Wiktionary
dissever

vb. 1 To separate; to split apart. 2 To divide into separate parts.

WordNet
dissever

v. separate into parts or portions; "divide the cake into three equal parts"; "The British carved up the Ottoman Empire after World War I" [syn: divide, split, split up, separate, carve up] [ant: unite]

Usage examples of "dissever".

I had just finished loading, and my retriever had just brought in the dead bird, which was quite riddled, cut up evidently by the whole body of the charge--both the wings broken, one in three places, one leg almost dissevered, and several shots in the neck and body--when up came my friend, and sure enough he was hit--one pellet had struck him on the cheek bone, and was imbedded in the skin.

They had become a separate people, dissevered from the North by habits, morals, institutions, pursuits, and every conceivable difference in their modes of thought and action.

So wells and leaps each pulse of life in chorus of redemption, and both dissevered elements, both soul and senses, God and nature, unite in the atoning kiss of hallowed love.

Suddenly he flung away his war-club, red with blood, rushed upon a wounded warrior, and, chopping off his arm at a single stroke, carried the dissevered member to his mouth, and bit it again and again.

As the whole body came rushing up, they found the gory corpses of the slain, with their dissevered heads near by.

Our hero Crockett, who had so valiantly smitten the dissevered heads of the two Creeks who had been so treacherously murdered, confesses that the revolting spectacle of the whites, scalped and half devoured, caused him to shudder.

It occurred to him next that he had not eaten anything since morning, and this body of his, which for the time being seemed to be dissevered from mind, might be hungry.

It was certainly good to the eyes, and the body was not so completely dissevered after all, as it began to signal the mind that it was, in very truth, hungry.

And so therewithal departed and dissevered all the knights of the Round Table.