lyrate

American  

[lahy-reyt, -rit] / ˈlaɪ reɪt, -rɪt /

Also lyrated

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.

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lyrate British  

/ ˈlaɪərɪt /

adjective

1. shaped like a lyre

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

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Other Word Forms

• lyrately adverb

Etymology

Origin of lyrate

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

Example Sentences

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 impalla is about the same size as the Grant's gazelle, but has horns of a lyrate shape.

From In Africa Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country by McCutcheon, John T.

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 The Bush Boys History and Adventures of a Cape Farmer and his Family by Reid, Mayne

Horns lyrate or semi-lyrate: Gazella dorcas; G. Isabella; G. rufifrons; G. loevipes; G. melanura.

From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Sterndale, Robert Armitage

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