imbricate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 26, 2007 is: imbricate • \IM-brih-kut\ • adjective : lying lapped over each other in regular order Examples: The antique mirror had tiny imbricate gold squares around its edge. Did you know? The ancient Romans knew how to keep the interior of their villas dry when it rained. They covered their roofs with overlapping curved tiles so the "imber" (Latin for "pelting rain" or "rain shower") couldn't seep in. The tiles were, in effect, "rain tiles," so the Romans called them "imbrices" (singular "imbrex"). The verb for installing the tiles was "imbricare," and English speakers used its past participle -- "imbricatus" -- to create "imbricate," which was first used as adjective meaning "overlapping (like roof tiles)" and later became a verb meaning "to overlap." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.