disjecta membra

American  

[dis-jek-tuh mem-bruh] / dɪsˈdʒɛk tə ˈmɛm brə /

plural noun

1. scattered members; disjointed portions or parts: applied to fragments of poetry or fragmentary quotations.

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disjecta membra British  

/ dɪsˈdʒɛktə ˈmɛmbrə /

plural noun

1. scattered fragments, esp parts taken from a writing or writings

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Etymology

Origin of disjecta membra

< Latin, alteration of disjectī membra poētae limbs of a dismembered poet, a phrase in Horace

Example Sentences

"Professor Winterthorn's Journey" is full of the disjecta membra of idle small talk, and in the following sequence, "The Suit of Mistress Quickly", Reid has written what is almost a piece of sound poetry.

From The Guardian • Sep. 28, 2012

It is high time this pseudo poetry of disjecta membra was put in its place, as you have done in the fine peroration of the article's last two paragraphs.

From Time Magazine Archive

How can the disjecta membra, scattered far and wide by Typhon, become again Osiris?

From Irish Race in the Past and the Present by Thebaud, Augustus J.

Of all the glorious objects these men and their disciples and contemporaries produced in Valladolid a few "disjecta membra" alone remain.

From An Architect's Note-Book in Spain principally illustrating the domestic architecture of that country. by Wyatt, Matthew Digby

The scheme has given way to more liberal notions; but the disjecta membra still move.

From The Common Law by Holmes, Oliver Wendell