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  1. decussate love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To cross or become crossed so as to form an X; intersect.
  2. adj. Intersected or crossed in the form of X.
  3. adj. Botany Arranged on a stem in opposite pairs at right angles to those above or below, resulting in four vertical rows: decussate leaves.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To intersect; cross, as lines, rays of light, leaves, or fibers of nerves.
  2. Crossed; intersected: specifically applied, in bot, to bodies which are arranged in pairs alternately crossing each other at regular angles.
  3. In rhetoric, arranged in two pairs of repeated, contrasted, or parallelized words or phrases, the second pair reversing the order of the first; characterized by or constituting such an arrangement; chiastic. See chiasmus.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Crossed; intersected; resembling a letter X.
  2. adj. botany Having opposite leaves arranged alternately at right angles.
  3. adj. rhetoric Consisting of two rising and two falling clauses, placed in alternate opposition to each other.
  4. v. To form an X or to cross or intersect.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To cross at an acute angle; to cut or divide in the form of X; to intersect; -- said of lines in geometrical figures, rays of light, nerves, etc.
  2. adj. Crossed; intersected.
  3. adj. (Bot.) Growing in pairs, each of which is at right angles to the next pair above or below.
  4. adj. (Rhet.) Consisting of two rising and two falling clauses, placed in alternate opposition to each other.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. cross or intersect so as to form a cross
  2. adj. crossed or intersected in the form of X

Etymologies

  1. From Latin decusso ("arrange crosswise or mark with a cross"), from decussis ("a 10 asses coin"), from decem ("ten") + as ("a Roman coin"). Based on the cross marking on the decussis coin. (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin decussāre, decussāt-, from decussis, the number ten, intersection of two lines (from the Romans' use of X for the numeral 10), a ten-as coin : decem, ten; see dekm̥ in Indo-European roots + assis, as (coin). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (4)

Words with the same meaning

  1. intersect
  1. crossed
  1. intersected
  1. cross

equivalents (2)

Other words for ‘decussate’

  1. crossed
  1. decussated

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. cross

reverse dictionary (3)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. decussately
  1. brachiate
  1. decussate

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Lists

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Comments

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  • reesetee Not as messy, anyway, c_b. May 27, 2009

  • qroqqa An odd formation. I wonder where the [u] came from in decem-ass-. Assuming it was formed after [m] was replaced by vowel nasalization (decem ['deke~:]), I would have thought you'd expect decess-. I see from Perseus that all the compounds from seven have the 'wrong' vowel, so it might be levelling by analogy with neighbouring numbers. May 27, 2009

  • chained_bear ... I guess it was better to carry around a copper coin than ten actual asses. May 27, 2009

  • oroboros The word originated from Latin "as" (plural asses) which was a copper coin and the monetary unit in ancient Rome. The word for ten asses was decussis, from Latin decem (ten) + as (coin). Since ten is represented by X, this spawned the verb decussare, meaning to divide in the form of an X or intersect. May 27, 2009

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‘decussate’ has been looked up 1436 times, added to 22 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.