Dictionary

cannibalise en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkænɪbəlaɪz/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Cariban *kariponader. Spanish caribeder. Spanish caríbalder. Spanish caníbalbor. English cannibal English -ise English cannibalise From cannibal + -ise.

Meanings

1. (UK, transitive) To eat (parts of) another of one's own species.
   • The female black widow spider is known to cannibalise the male.
2. (UK, transitive) To remove parts of (a machine, etc) for use in other similar machines.
   • 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. 1962 April, “Motive power miscellany: Scottish Region”, in Modern Railways, page 284:
   • to cannibalize an old laptop for parts
   • 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. 1991, Anthony Kemp, The SAS at War 1941–1945 (John Murray (Publishers) Ltd)
3. (UK, transitive) To reduce sales or market share (for one of one's own products) by introducing another.
   • iPad mini to cannibalize 1M full-size iPad sales. 2012 October 17, electronista:
4. (UK) Rework old material; rehash.
   • 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. 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club:

Forms

Deriveds

cannibalisation · cannibalization

Translations (13)

sv kannibalisera (to remove parts of) · fi purkaa varaosiksi (to remove parts of) · sv kannibalisera (business: to reduce sales or market share of product by introducing another) · fi kannibalisoida (business: to reduce sales or market share of product by introducing another) · es despiezar (to remove parts of) · fi kannibalisoida (to eat one's own species) · es canibalizar (to eat one's own species) · sv kannibalisera (to eat one's own species) · fi harjoittaa ihmissyöntiä (to eat one's own species) · es desguazar (to remove parts of) · es despezar (to remove parts of) · fi ottaa osia (to remove parts of) · de kannibalisieren (business: to reduce sales or market share of product by introducing another)