shred
tear someone or something to shreds: seetear.
a thing of shreds and patches something made up of scraps of fabric patched together. literary
☞ In the third act of Hamlet, the prince describes his uncle Claudius, who has usurped the throne, as 'a king of shreds and patches'; this description was parodied by W. S. Gilbert in The Mikado as 'a thing of shreds and patches'.