Definition

1. Verb (Transitive):
   • To use parts from one machine, vehicle, or system to repair or build another: This meaning describes the practice of dismantling a source item to obtain components for use in a different item, often because the parts are scarce, expensive, or no longer manufactured.
   • To eat the flesh of an individual of the same species: This is the biological or anthropological meaning, referring specifically to the act of consuming members of one's own species.

Usage and Examples

• Verb (Using parts):

  • The mechanic had to cannibalise the old truck to fix the newer one.
  • To keep the vintage aircraft flying, they often cannibalise parts from other planes in the museum.

• Verb (Eating same species):

  • Some species of spiders cannibalise their mates after reproduction.
  • In extreme survival situations, there have been reports of humans forced to cannibalise the dead.

Advanced Usage and Notes

• Business/Marketing Context: The term is often used metaphorically in business to describe a situation where a company's new product reduces sales of its own existing product.
  • The new budget smartphone model may cannibalise sales of our flagship phone.
• Resource Management: Can describe reallocating resources (e.g., personnel, funding) from one department or project to another within the same organization.
  • The new initiative will cannibalise funds from the research and development budget.

Variants and Related Words

• Cannibalize: The preferred spelling in American English. Both "cannibalise" (UK) and "cannibalize" (US) are correct.
• Cannibalisation / Cannibalization (Noun): The process or result of cannibalising.
  • The cannibalisation of the old fleet provided the necessary spare parts.
  • Market analysts are concerned about sales cannibalisation.
• Cannibal (Noun): An organism that eats its own species.

Synonyms

• For using parts: Strip, salvage, harvest (parts from).
• For eating same species: Practice cannibalism (verb phrase).

Phrasal Verbs / Common Collocations

• To cannibalise for parts: Explicitly states the purpose.
  • The broken printer was cannibalised for parts to repair others.
• To cannibalise sales: A standard business collocation.
  • The cheaper product line began to cannibalise sales of the premium models.

Related Idioms and Metaphors

• While not a fixed idiom, the business usage ("cannibalise sales/market") is a pervasive metaphor derived from the word's core meaning. It implies that the new entity consumes or destroys the old one from within the same "body" (the company).

Verb

1. use parts of something to repair something else
2. eat human flesh