Definitions

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

  • noun The act of encrusting.
  • noun The state of being encrusted.
  • noun A crust or coating.
  • noun A decorative technique in which a contrasting material is applied to a surface as an inlay or overlay.
  • noun A material so applied.
  • noun Biology A coating of hardened exudate or other material on a body or body part; a scale or scab.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of incrusting; the act of covering or lining with any foreign substance; the state of being incrusted.
  • noun A crust or coat of anything on the surface of a body; a covering, coating, or scale, as of mineral substances deposited by a spring or stream, or by the water in a steam-boiler; an efflorescence, as of salt or soda on the surface of the ground.
  • noun An inlaying of anything, as a plaque, tile, lacquer, veneer, mosaic, or the like, into or upon the surface, as of a cabinet, mantelpiece, etc.
  • noun An incrusted or inlaid object or substance.

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

  • noun The act of incrusting, or the state of being incrusted.
  • noun A crust or hard coating of anything upon or within a body, as a deposit of lime, sediment, etc., from water on the inner surface of a steam boiler.
  • noun (Arch.) A covering or inlaying of marble, mosaic, etc., attached to the masonry by cramp irons or cement.
  • noun (Fine Arts) Anything inlaid or imbedded.

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

  • noun The act of incrusting, or the state of being incrusted.
  • noun A crust or hard coating of anything upon or within a body, as a deposit of lime, sediment, etc., from water on the inner surface of a steam boiler.
  • noun A covering or inlaying of marble, mosaic, etc., attached to the masonry by cramp irons or cement.
  • noun Anything inlaid or imbedded.

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

  • noun the formation of a crust
  • noun a hard outer layer that covers something
  • noun a decorative coating of contrasting material that is applied to a surface as an inlay or overlay

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It will be thus seen that there are no changes of any essential kind in the chemical composition of the bast fibre throughout the life-history of the plant, confirming the conclusion that the 'incrustation' view of lignification is consistent only with the structural features of the changes, and so far as it has assumed the gradual overlaying of a cellulose fibre with the lignone substance it is not in accordance with the facts.

    Researches on Cellulose 1895-1900 C. F. Cross

  • Cadmium salts can be recognized by the brown incrustation which is formed when they are heated on charcoal in the oxidizing flame of the blowpipe; and also by the yellow precipitate formed when sulphuretted hydrogen is passed though their acidified solutions.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" Various

  • The sweet principle of honey and molasses, and the incrustation which is so frequently seen on figs and raisins, are also essentially the same substance.

    Religion and Chemistry 1880

  • a piece of moral turpitude -- or at best a sign of lassitude, stupidity, and Toryism; because it means that one's mind is made up and that one has some dull theory which life and the thoughts of others may confirm if they will, but must not modify: from which deadly kind of incrustation may common-sense and human interest deliver us.

    The Silent Isle Arthur Christopher Benson 1893

  • It is used to treat infections caused alongside fungus on the incrustation and in the body.

    Burning the Fat: Fueled by Fatuousness BikeSnobNYC 2009

  • The uncovered part had the appearance of a huge cylinder, caked over and its outline softened by a thick scaly dun-coloured incrustation.

    The War of The Worlds H. G. Wells 2009

  • Then suddenly he noticed with a start that some of the grey clinker, the ashy incrustation that covered the meteorite, was falling off the circular edge of the end.

    The War of The Worlds H. G. Wells 2009

  • All are lighter than recent bones, with the exception of those which have a calcareous incrustation, and the cavities of which are filled with such matter.

    Essays 2007

  • The uncovered part had the appearance of a huge cylinder, caked over and its outline softened by a thick scaly dun-coloured incrustation.

    The War of the Worlds Herbert George 2006

  • Then suddenly he noticed with a start that some of the grey clinker, the ashy incrustation that covered the meteorite, was falling off the circular edge of the end.

    The War of the Worlds Herbert George 2006

Comments

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  • "...a huge, humped old bull, which by his comparatively slow progress, as well as by the unusual yellowish incrustations overgrowing him, seemed afflicted with the jaundice, or some other infirmity."

    Moby-Dick, ch. 81

    June 15, 2009