Crossword clues for tessera
tessera
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tessera \Tes"se*ra\, n.; pl. Tesser[ae]. [L., a square piece,
a die. See Tessellar.]
A small piece of marble, glass, earthenware, or the like,
having a square, or nearly square, face, used by the ancients
for mosaic, as for making pavements, for ornamenting walls,
and like purposes; also, a similar piece of ivory, bone,
wood, etc., used as a ticket of admission to theaters, or as
a certificate for successful gladiators, and as a token for
various other purposes.
--Fairholt.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
plural tesserae, "small, square piece of stone," 1650s, from Latin tessera "a die, cube, square tablet with writing on it" used as a token or ticket, from Ionic Greek tessera, neuter of tesseres (Attic tessares) "four" (see four).
Wiktionary
n. 1 A small square piece of stone, wood, ivory or glass used for making a mosaic. 2 (context planetology English) complex-ridged surface feature seen on plateau highlands of Venus and perhaps on Triton
WordNet
n. a small square tile of stone or glass used in making mosaics
[also: tesserae (pl)]
Wikipedia
A tessera is an individual tile in a mosaic.
Tessera, plural tesserae, may also refer to:
- the number 4 in Greek (τέσσερα)
- dice used in ancient Rome
- the booklet of prayers of the Legion of Mary, a Catholic lay organization
- layers of calcification on sharks' otherwise cartilaginous jaws and backbones
- a frazione of the comune of Venice nearest to Mestre
- Venice-Tessera Airport
- Tessera (commerce), a token or tally in ancient and medieval times
- Tessera (Venusian geography), large regions of highly deformed terrain, possibly unique to Venus
- Tesserae (video game), a puzzle game for Macintosh computers
- Tessera, the codename for the original iMac G4
- Tessera Technologies, an international microelectronics company
A tessera was the ancient Roman equivalent of a theater ticket. Stamped into a clay shard was an entrance aisle and row number for spectators attending an event at an amphitheater or arena. Above the doors of the Colosseum in Rome are numbers corresponding to those stamped into a spectator's tessera. Tesserae frumentariae and nummariae were tokens given at certain times by the Roman magistrates to citizens, in exchange for which they received a fixed amount of wheat or money.
A tessera is a "complex ridged" surface feature seen in the highlands of Venus. Tesserae are thought to be caused by crustal folding, buckling, and breaking. The presence of tesserae on Venus suggests that the Venusian surface may be subject to piecewise lateral motions.
Tesserae are regions of heavily deformed terrain on Venus, characterized by two or more intersecting tectonic elements, high topography, and subsequent high radar backscatter. Tesserae often represent the oldest material at any given location and are among the most tectonically deformed terrains on Venus's surface. Diverse types of tessera terrain exist. It is not currently clear if this is due to a variety in the interactions of Venus's mantle with regional crustal or lithospheric stresses, or if these diverse terrains represent different locations in the timeline of crustal plateau formation and fall. Multiple models of tessera formation exist and further extensive studies of Venus's surface are necessary to fully understand this complex terrain.
Usage examples of "tessera".
Bonnard was a corpulent man, a skilled ceramicist whose touch with tile nippers and mosaic tesserae was unrivaled, but he was not much of an overseer.
The floor at the base of the ladder was firm but scattered with bits of something that scrunched beneath his feet--fallen plaster, perhaps, or tesserae loosened from an ancient mosaic.
But glass mosaics were already in use in the Augustan age, and the use of gilt tesserae goes back to the 1st or 2nd century.
Nicholai could only recall shattered tesserae of experience, the binding grout of chronological sequence dissolved by the drugs they pumped into him.
From his present angle these few feet lower, he saw that the polished gray tesserae formed a subtle pattern of radial lines with circular lines crossing them.
Five hundred years ago mosaicists were laying reversed sheets of tesserae on walls and floors in Rhodias, Mylasia, Baiana.
Crispin was just then attempting the task of making muddy brown tesserae appear like the brilliant glowing of Heladikos's sacred fire, high up on a scaffold under the dome.
Up on the high scaffold, Caius Crispus of Varena was setting reddish-veined marble from Pezzelana flat into the soft, sticky lime coat on the dome, interspersed with the best of the tesserae they'd managed to salvage from the miserable sheets of glass.
With tesserae worthy of the name, and perhaps a sanctuary dome designed with windows enough and-by the god's grace-good, clear glass for those windows, he might.
Now, as he dressed quickly in the twilight chill, he found himself engaged in slotting pieces of information like tesserae within his mind to make a picture.
He dreamt of Sarantium, of making a mosaic there, with brilliant tesserae and all the shining jewels he needed: images on a towering dome of an oak tree in a grove, lightning bolts in a livid sky.
A figure as absolute and terrifying as the bison had been: another dark, massive head, against the pale, golden tesserae of the sun behind him.
He knew, intuitively, that this precise pairing of tesserae would exist nowhere else on the dome.
I'd need to be up on a scaffold to be certain, but it seems some tesserae have dislodged there as well.
When we have set tesserae on some sanctuary or palace domes in Batiara it has been our good fortune-Martinian's and mine-to achieve pleasing effects by being aware of when and where the moons will lend their light through the seasons.