[‘ A person who pulls something apart; a person who divides or separates something.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /dɪˈsəːptə/, U.S. /dᵻˈsərptər/
Etymology:Probably partly < post-classical Latin /discerptor/ person who separates something (1748 in the passage translated in quot. 1854; already in 14th cent. in sense ‘adversary’),
and partly directly < classical Latin /discerpt-/, past participial stem of /discerpere/ discerp v. + -or suffix.
Now rare.
A person who pulls something apart; a person who divides or separates something.
1854 tr. E. Swedenborg /Spiritual Diary/ in /New Church Herald & Monthly Repository/ Nov. 502 Those who execute such penalties, that is, the discerptors or punishers [L. /discerptores, aut punitores/].
1904 /Nature/ 17 Mar. 464/2 The first discerptor [of the genus /Cimex/] was Fabricius, who..removed our species from Cimex to form a part of his new genus Acanthia.
1959 /Greece & Rome/ *6* 105 The discerptors of Milton..may still find a fresh ruse or two in the tactical manuals of the Baconian assailants of Shakespeare.