imbrication

American  

[im-bri-key-shuhn] / ˌɪm brɪˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. an overlapping, as of tiles or shingles.

2. a decoration or pattern resembling this.

3. Surgery. overlapping of layers of tissue in the closure of wounds or in the correction of defects.

4. Geology. shingling.

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Etymology

Origin of imbrication

First recorded in 1640–50; imbricate + -ion

Example Sentences

That early imbrication of art and economics continues in a new exhibition, at David Zwirner’s Nineteenth Street branch, of photos from diCorcia’s ongoing series “East of Eden.”

From The New Yorker • Apr. 4, 2015

Figure 6.23 An illustration of imbrication of clasts in a fluvial environment.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

Beginning as early as 1946, thinkers like Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno have warned of the imbrication of entertainment with disciplinary social control in the form of the “culture industry.”

From Salon • Apr. 30, 2013

This imbrication of the leaflets of sleeping plants is a common phenomenon.

From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles

One end has two standing figures with a Latin cross in high relief between them, and a garland with waving ribands surrounding the labarum above; the other an imbrication with the spaces in relief.

From The Shores of the Adriatic The Austrian Side, The Küstenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia by Jackson, F. Hamilton (Frederick Hamilton)