Imbricate
Imbricate , adjective
[Latin imbricatus, past participle of imbricare to cover with tiles, to form like a gutter tile, from imbrex, -icis, a hollow tile, gutter tile, from imber rain.]
1.
Bent and hollowed like a roof or gutter tile.
2.
Lying over each other in regular order, so as to “break joints,” like tiles or shingles on a roof, the scales on the leaf buds of plants and the cups of some acorns, or the scales of fishes; overlapping each other at the margins, as leaves in astivation.
3.
In decorative art: Having scales lapping one over the other, or a representation of such scales; as, an imbricated surface; an imbricated pattern.
Also: Imbricated
Imbricate , transitive verb
To lay in order, one lapping over another, so as to form an imbricated surface.