[ad. L. lacerāt-us, pa. pple. of lacerāre to LACERATE.]
1. Mangled, torn, lacerated. Also fig. Distracted.
1542. Hen. VIII., Declar., 205. Our realme hathe ben for a season lacerate and torne by diuersitie of titles.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 281. That this town [Alexandria] should now be brought to so lacerate a condition, that was for many ages one of the most ample.
1805. Southey, Madoc, II. viii. His hands transfix’d, And lacerate with the body’s pendent weight.
1878. Symonds, Sonn. Campanella, xxviii. Now stays with limbs dispersed and lacerate.
2. Bot. and Zool. Having the edge or point irregularly cut or cleft as if torn; jagged.
1776. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., Expl. Terms 384. Laecrum, lacerate, where the Margin is variously divided, as if torn.
1794. Martyn, trans. Rousseau’s Bot., xxvi. 380. Many varieties … with lacerate leaves and simple ones.
1846. Dana, Zooph. (1848), 324. Folia thin,… sometimes lacerate.
b. In combining form lacerato-; as lacerato-dentate, -subdivided.
1846. Dana, Zooph. (1848), 225. Lamellæ thin, lacerato-dentate. Ibid., 706. Small;… sometimes lacerato-subdivided.
Hence Lacerately adv., in a lacerated manner, with laceration.
In recent Dicts.
