apedazar

An old-fashioned verb meaning to patch or mend by adding pieces of fabric (remendar), or, in an opposite and much rarer sense, to tear something into pieces (despedazar). Modern Spanish reaches for remendar for mending and hacer pedazos or despedazar for tearing apart, so apedazar itself now sounds dated.

• La abuela apedazó la sábana vieja con retazos de tela. — Grandma patched the old sheet with scraps of fabric.
• En el relato, la fiera apedazó a su presa. — In the story, the beast tore its prey to pieces.
• Ya casi nadie usa apedazar en vez de remendar. — Almost no one uses apedazar instead of remendar anymore.

Assuming apedazar always means "to tear apart" — its more traditional sense is actually the opposite, to mend by patching, so context (and how old-fashioned the text sounds) matters for which sense applies.

Often confused with remendar.