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to autopsy

to autopsy

9 6.9
To examine a dead body to find the cause of death
  • verb
  • /ˈɔːtɑːpsi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : practicar una autopsia
  • The next morning, an assistant medical examiner autopsied Baby Boy Doe Number One and discovered that he had died of exposure.

Examples

  • But her family will not let them autopsy the body until they fly over a specialist from Munich.

  • Hobbs gave me permission to autopsy the body.

  • " This morning, I autopsied a gangland-style execution victim.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Bodies were transported via refrigerated trucks to the Medical Examiner's office, where they were autopsied.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The medical examiner will autopsy the deceased to determine the exact cause of death.

  • After reviewing the evidence, the detective decided to autopsy the body for more clues.

  • They plan to autopsy the patient to better understand the effects of the disease.

Surface Forms

autopsy infinitive
autopsied past
autopsied past participle
autopsying present participle
autopsies third person singular

Etymology

Autopsy as a verb comes from the same Greek parts auto- 'self' and -opsy 'to see'. So to autopsy someone is to 'see for yourself' by carefully looking at a dead body to find the cause of death.