lyrate
Americanadjective
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Botany. (of a pinnate leaf ) divided transversely into several lobes, the smallest at the base.
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Zoology. having the shape of a lyre, as the tail of certain birds.
adjective
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shaped like a lyre
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(of leaves) having a large terminal lobe and smaller lateral lobes
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lyrate
From the New Latin word lyrātus, dating back to 1750–60. See lyre, -ate 1
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.
Below his knees were yellowish tufts of long hair; and his horns—instead of being lyrate, like those of the springbok—rose nearly vertical to the height of four inches.
From Popular Adventure Tales by Reid, Mayne
Leaves sixteen to eighteen inches in length, very dark green, deeply lobed, or lyrate, and hairy, or hispid, on the nerves and borders.
From The Field and Garden Vegetables of America Containing Full Descriptions of Nearly Eleven Hundred Species and Varietes; With Directions for Propagation, Culture and Use. by Burr, Fearing
Embryo straight! or the short radicle only slightly bent in the direction which if continued would make the orbicular cotyledons accumbent.—Little winter annuals, glabrous and often stemless, with lyrate leaves and short 1–few-flowered scape-like peduncles.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
Leaves: From the root, on long petioles, rounded or heart-shaped, scalloped-edged, often purplish; stem leaves variable, lance-shaped or lyrate, deeply cut, sessile.
From Wild Flowers An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors by Blanchan, Neltje
The horns are more or less lyrate, and generally developed in both sexes; there are frequently brushes of hair on the knees.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various
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.
