Word of the Day - Imbricate

My new favorite word: Imbricate.

The dome of this church in Asheville is imbricated.

So are these lilac shingles on this fancy Victorian bed and breakfast just outside Burnsville.

More Asheville imbrication -- on the pink marble City Building.

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Imbricate was the word a few days ago and the following is copied from the email I received.

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imbricate

PRONUNCIATION:

(adj: IM-bri-kit, -kayt; verb: IM-bri-kayt)

MEANING:

adjective: Having overlapping edges, as tiles on a roof or scales on a fish.
verb tr., intr.: To overlap as roof tiles or fish scales.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin imbricare (to cover with pantiles: semicylindrical tiles), from imbrex (pantile), from imber (rain).

USAGE:

"In that region [Skopje], yesterday as today, allegiance to the Church was more than a merely confessional matter. It was, and is, imbricated with a series of loyalties to nation, region, and even party."
Christopher Hitchens; The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice; Verso Books; 1995.



Explore "imbricate" in the Visual Thesaurus.

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Below, the greenhouse snake basks in her imbricate beauty.