The Collaborative International Dictionary
Imbricate \Im"bri*cate\, Imbricated \Im"bri*ca`ted\, a. [L. imbricatus, p. p. of imbricare to cover with tiles, to form like a gutter tile, fr. imbrex, -icis, a hollow tile, gutter tile, fr. imber rain.]
Bent and hollowed like a roof or gutter tile.
Lying over each other in regular order, so as to ``break joints,'' like tiles or shingles on a roof, the scales on the leaf buds of plants and the cups of some acorns, or the scales of fishes; overlapping each other at the margins, as leaves in [ae]stivation.
In decorative art: Having scales lapping one over the other, or a representation of such scales; as, an imbricated surface; an imbricated pattern.
Imbricate \Im"bri*cate\, v. t. To lay in order, one lapping over another, so as to form an imbricated surface.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1704 (implied in imbricated), from Latin imbricatus "covered with tiles," past participle of imbricare "to cover with rain tiles" (see imbrication). As an adjective from 1650s. Related: Imbricated; imbricating.
Wiktionary
Having regular overlapping edges; intertwined. v
(context transitive or intransitive English) To overlap in a regular pattern.
WordNet
adj. used especially of leaves or bracts; overlapping or layered as scales or shingles [syn: imbricated]
v. place so as to overlap; "imbricate the roof tiles"
overlap; "The roof tiles imbricate"
Usage examples of "imbricate".
They thus become imbricated with their midribs parallel to the petiole.
The leaflets move towards the apex of the pinna and become imbricated, and the pinnae then look like bits of dangling string.
It was adjusted, jointed, imbricated, rectilinear, symmetrical and funereal.
It was fitted, dovetailed, imbricated, rectilinear, symmetrical, and deathly.
As it flows it takes the forms of sappy leaves or vines, making heaps of pulpy sprays a foot or more in depth, and resembling, as you look down on them, the laciniated, lobed, and imbricated thalluses of some lichens.