dis-cerpo, psi, ptum, 3, v. a. [carpo], to pluck or tear in pieces, to rend, to mangle (class.).
I Lit.: animus nec secerni nec dividi nec discerpi nec distrahi potest, Cic. Tusc. 1, 29, 71; cf. id. N. D. 1, 11, 27: inter orgia Bacchi discerptum iuvenem sparsere per agros, Verg. G. 4, 522: aliquem, Liv. 1, 16; Suet. Caes. 17: semiustum cadaver (canes), id. Dom. 15: membra gruis, Hor. S. 2, 8, 86 et saep.: in parvas partīs aurum, Lucr. 2, 829; Vulg. Judic. 4, 6 al.—
B Transf., to scatter, disperse, destroy : quae cuncta aërii discerpunt irrita venti, Cat. 64, 142; cf. Verg. A. 9, 313.—
II Trop.
A In gen.: divulsa et quasi discerpta contrectare, Cic. de Or. 3, 6, 24: rem quae proposita est, quasi in membra, id. Top. 5, 28. —
B In partic. (like carpo, II. B.; concerpo, II.), to tear in pieces with words, to revile : me infestis dictis, Cat. 66, 73; cf.: lacerare carmina, Ov. P. 4, 16, 1.