verb

• (transitive) To study an animal's anatomy by cutting it apart; to perform a necropsy or an autopsy.
• (transitive) To study a plant or other organism's anatomy similarly.
• (transitive) To analyze an idea in detail by separating it into its parts.
• (transitive, anatomy, surgery) To separate muscles, organs, and so on without cutting into them or disrupting their architecture.
• (transitive, pathology) Of an infection or foreign material, following the fascia separating muscles or other organs.