Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To cut into, as with a sharp instrument.
  • transitive verb To engrave (designs or writing, for example) into a surface; carve.
  • transitive verb To engrave designs, writing, or other marks into.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To cut in or into; form or treat by cutting; specifically, to engrave; carve in intaglio.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To cut in or into with a sharp instrument; to carve; to engrave.
  • transitive verb To cut, gash, or wound with a sharp instrument; to cut off.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb to cut in or into with a sharp instrument; to carve; to engrave

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make an incision into by carving or cutting

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French inciser, from Old French enciser, from Vulgar Latin *incīsāre, frequentative of Latin incīdere, incīs- : in-, in; see in– + caedere, to cut; see kaə-id- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • We have 7 SMOG posters that we've collected after shows. 3 year anniversary ... "mHead:" Thanks for pointing out d'incise's latest release.

    Disquiet 2009

  • To incise the design into the clay, I used scraffito tools on leather-hard clay.

    Kater’s Art » Blog Archive » Momiji Cup 1 2009

  • To incise the design into the clay, I used scraffito tools on leather-hard clay.

    Kater’s Art » 2009 » December 2009

  • Wash the eggplant, incise it on one side, and lay it on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

    Peace Meals Anna Badkhen 2010

  • By contrast, other works in this case display a kind of lacquer that can be heated to the desired levels of viscosity so that artists can variously dye, layer, carve, incise, even inlay with precious materials.

    Bright and Shiny Things Lee Lawrence 2010

  • The root of the verb comes from the Latin cise or cide, meaning to cut, as in incise, circumcise and most importantly in this context, to decide.

    Michael Rovner: Decisions, Decisions Michael Rovner 2010

  • It's in the Torah, Leviticus 19: 28: "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves," followed by the words, "I am the Lord," so you know this rule comes from the top.

    Anita Diamant: My (Jewish) Daughter's Tattoo 2010

  • "Yours," said Philip with soft deliberation, not questioning, not exclaiming, only saying over the single word to himself as if to incise it on the steely metal of his mind.

    A River So Long 2010

  • The prohibition against Jews getting tattoos comes from a verse in Leviticus that forbids gashing one's flesh: "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves; I am the Lord."

    Danielle Berrin: Victoria Beckham's Hebrew Tattoo: Marital Goodluck Charm? Danielle Berrin 2010

  • Wash the eggplant, incise it on one side, and lay it on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

    Peace Meals Anna Badkhen 2010

Comments

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  • Citation on untragic.

    June 22, 2008