(verb) : dis-cerpo, psi, ptum, 3, carpo
* To pluck or tear in pieces, to rend, to mangle (class.).
* 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.
* Transf., to scatter, disperse, destroy: quae cuncta aërii discerpunt irrita venti,Cat. 64, 142; cf. Verg. A. 9, 313.
* Trop.
* In gen.: divulsa et quasi discerpta contrectare,Cic. de Or. 3, 6, 24: rem quae proposita est, quasi in membra,id. Top. 5, 28.
* 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.

s. TLL