lyrate

Also ly·rat·ed

[lahy-reyt, -rit]

adjective

1. Botany.,  (of a pinnate leaf ) divided transversely into several lobes, the smallest at the base.

2. Zoology.,  having the shape of a lyre, as the tail of certain birds.

lyrate

/ ˈlaɪərɪt /

adjective

1. shaped like a lyre

2. (of leaves) having a large terminal lobe and smaller lateral lobes

Other Word Forms

• lyrately adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of lyrate¹

From the New Latin word lyrātus, dating back to 1750–60. See lyre, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of lyrate¹

C18: from New Latin lyrātus, Latin from lyra _lyre

Example Sentences

Leaves all lyrate or runcinate, the upper often with a heart-shaped clasping base; panicle larger; achenes distinctly beaked; otherwise as n. 7.—Rich soil, Penn. to Ill., and southward.

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Turnip, tur′nip, n. a biennial plant, with lyrate hispid leaves, the upper part of the root becoming, esp. in cultivation, swollen and fleshy—cultivated as a culinary esculent, and for feeding cattle and sheep.—n.

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Its horns, however, are not lyrate, as in the springbok, but rise first in the plane of its forehead, and then curve boldly forward to the tips.

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The long face, high crest for the horns, which are ringed, lyrate and more or less strongly angulated, and the moderately long tail, are the distinctive features of the hartebeests.

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A little farther on a ruddy antelope, with lyrate horns, leaped out of the bush before them and dashed off towards the river before Blake could string his bow.

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