interlard
Americanverb (used with object)
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to diversify by adding or interjecting something unique, striking, or contrasting (usually followed bywith ).
to interlard one's speech with oaths.
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(of things) to be intermixed in.
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Obsolete. to mix, as fat with lean meat.
verb
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to scatter thickly in or between; intersperse
to interlard one's writing with foreign phrases
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to occur frequently in; be scattered in or through
foreign phrases interlard his writings
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of interlard
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English interlarden, enterlarde, from Middle French entrelarder, equivalent to entre “between,” from Latin inter + larder “to cook with lard or bacon fat”; see origin at inter- + lard
Explanation
Interlard refers to speech or writing and it means "to load up with" or "to pepper." Your mom's request that you come to a family dinner might be interlarded with references to how often lately you've been out with friends. Are you wondering about seeing lard inside interlard? In the 15th century, interlard came into English from Middle French, where it meant to "mix with alternate layers of fat." Yum, right? :-) Maybe not, but important to remember, as interlarded speech or writing is well-greased in a figurative way. Think of your math teacher's lessons interlarded with jokes from The Simpsons :-) or a word-learning blurb interlarded with smiles :-).
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The conclusion of Monkey is surprising enough, and the late Sam Janney has managed to interlard his melodrama with agreeable comedy..
From Time Magazine Archive
Both interlard their radio talk with bits of hard rock.
From Time Magazine Archive
She knew two other methods also—either to interlard her lies with truth or to tell a truth as though it were a lie.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Jack, as we have said before, was of rather a nautical turn of mind, and occasionally, when the fit was on him, loved to interlard his conversation with seafaring expressions.
From The Triple Alliance Its trials and triumphs by Harold Avery
"Well?" asked the patient, querulously, as he saw that some new topic was to interlard that which had already been so unpleasant.
From The Coward A Novel of Society and the Field in 1863 by Henry Morford
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
