take to pieces

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The few books that I have tried to take to pieces and to re-construct are not enough—or at least it would be necessary to deal with them more searchingly.

From The Craft of Fiction by Lubbock, Percy

Wherefore it is not sufficient to write verses merely in proper language; which if you take to pieces, any person may storm in the same manner as the father in the play.

From The Works of Horace by Horace

In attempting, therefore, to take to pieces the machinery, there was the risk of destroying it.

From Toilers of the Sea by Hugo, Victor

We would sit down with bated breath and tense-drawn nerves to take to pieces for the first time the delicate machinery of a watch for cleaning and readjustment.

From Sunday-School Success A Book of Practical Methods for Sunday-School Teachers and Officers by Wells, Amos R.

For, alas! we know only that which we can take to pieces.

From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English. in Twenty Volumes by Francke, Kuno