cannibalise

See also: cannibalize and cannibalisé

English

Alternative forms

• cannibalize (especially US)

Etymology

cannibal +‎ -ise

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkænɪbəlaɪz/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Verb

cannibalise (third-person singular simple present cannibalises, present participle cannibalising, simple past and past participle cannibalised) (British spelling)

1. (transitive) To eat (parts of) another of one's own species.

   The female black widow spider is known to cannibalise the male.

2. (transitive) To remove parts of (a machine, etc) for use in other similar machines.

   cannibalized an old laptop for parts

   • 1962 April, “Motive power miscellany: Scottish Region”, in Modern Railways, page 284:

     According to our correspondent, at least one of the Type 2s has had to be cannibalised to facilitate repairs, as spares are often in short supply.

   • 1991, Anthony Kemp, The SAS at War 1941–1945 (John Murray (Publishers) Ltd):

     When the attack ceased they managed to cannibalize parts to get one truck going and set off for the rendezvous with Fraser, only to find nobody there.

3. (transitive, business) To reduce sales or market share (for one of one's own products) by introducing another.
   • 2012 October 17, electronista:

     iPad mini to cannibalize 1M full-size iPad sales.

4. Rework old material; rehash.
   • 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     When the album succeeds, such as on the swaggering, Queen-esque “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” it does so on The Darkness’ own terms—that is, as a random ’80s-cliché generator. But with so many tired, lazy callbacks to its own threadbare catalog (including “Love Is Not The Answer,” a watery echo of the epic “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” from 2003’s Permission To Land), Hot Cakes marks the point where The Darkness has stopped cannibalizing the golden age of stadium rock and simply started cannibalizing itself. And, despite Hawkins’ inveterate crotch-grabbing, there was never that much meat there to begin with.

Derived terms

• cannibalisation, cannibalization

Translations

to eat one's own species

• Finnish: kannibalisoida (fi); harjoittaa ihmissyöntiä (to eat human flesh)

to remove parts of

• Finnish: ottaa osia (lit. "to take parts"), purkaa varaosiksi

business: to reduce sales or market share of product by introducing another

• Finnish: kannibalisoida (fi)
• German: kannibalisieren (de)

French

Verb

cannibalise

1. inflection of cannibaliser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative