Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dismember

Dismember , transitive verb

[Old French desmembrer, French démembrer; pref. des- (Latin dis) + Old French & French membre limb. See Member.]

1.
To tear limb from limb; to dilacerate; to disjoin member from member; to tear or cut in pieces; to break up.
Fowls obscene dismembered his remains. — Pope
A society lacerated and dismembered. — Gladstone
By whose hands the blow should be struck which would dismember that once mighty empire. — Buckle
2.
To deprive of membership. [Obsolete]
They were dismembered by vote of the house. — R. North