cannibalize v. 1. To launch a new product that takes market share away from a company’s established products. 2. To remove parts, equipment, assets, employees, and so forth from an item, a product, or a business in order to use them in another.

BS Definition: To cut off your nose to spite your face … and then eat that nose.

Origin: Derived from the Spanish word canibal, the term was first applied by the Spaniards to West Indies natives, who the Europeans believed were anthropophagites (eaters of human flesh). Apparently, the term was Christopher Columbus’s interpretation of how the natives referred to themselves (kalino, karina).1 How he got ...

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