From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcannibalizecan‧ni‧bal‧ize (also cannibalise British English) /ˈkænəbəlaɪz/ verb [transitive] 1 USE somethingto take parts of one machine to use in another, for example to repair it The truck was cannibalized for parts.2 technical if one of a company’s products cannibalizes another, it takes sales away from it→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
cannibalize• Most of the craft had been cannibalized and ripped apart.• It was suggested that female spiders, by cannibalizing courting males, have actively selected for small male size.• We cannibalized the parts off of the other five generators.• The competition between superstores and malls has gotten so bad that some companies are cannibalizing themselves.From Longman Business Dictionarycannibalizecan‧ni‧bal‧ize /ˈkænəbəlaɪz/ (also cannibalise British English) verb [transitive]1MARKETING if one of a company’s new products cannibalizes an older one, it takes sales away from itHealthy Choice was a best seller without cannibalizing sales of its other frozen food brands.2MANUFACTURING to take parts from one machine to use in another, for example to repair itBy the time the replacement part arrived, the helicopter had been cannibalized for spare parts.→ See Verb table 