Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive & intransitive verb To cross or become crossed so as to form an X; intersect.
- adjective Intersected or crossed in the form of an X.
- adjective Botany Arranged on a stem in opposite pairs, at right angles to those above or below.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To intersect; cross, as lines, rays of light, leaves, or fibers of nerves.
- Crossed; intersected: specifically applied, in bot, to bodies which are arranged in pairs alternately crossing each other at regular angles.
- 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 .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb 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.
- adjective Crossed; intersected.
- adjective (Bot.) Growing in pairs, each of which is at right angles to the next pair above or below.
- adjective (Rhet.) Consisting of two rising and two falling clauses, placed in alternate opposition to each other.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Crossed; intersected; resembling a letter X.
- adjective botany Having
opposite leaves arrangedalternately at right angles. - adjective rhetoric Consisting of two rising and two falling clauses, placed in alternate opposition to each other.
- verb To form an
X or tocross orintersect .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cross or intersect so as to form a cross
- adjective crossed or intersected in the form of an X
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The leaves on this plant are arranged in pairs opposite one another, with successive pairs at right angles to each other ( "decussate") along the red stem.
Wikibooks - Recent changes [en] 196.46.245.35 2010
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There are certain other nervous cords which decussate, are attached (to the vertebrae?), and are extended from both sides of them.
On The Articulations 2007
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Cancellate: cross-barred: latticed: with longitudinal lines decussate by transverse lines.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith
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Now, referring to the ordinary notation of alternate leaves, we shall have the first leaf covered by the fifth, with two turns of the spiral; since decussate leaves result from two conjugate lines, the formula will be necessarily 2/5.
Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants Maxwell T. Masters
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The simplest illustration of this arrangement is seen in the case of decussate leaves, where those organs are placed in pairs, and the pairs cross one another at right angles.
Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants Maxwell T. Masters
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It is curious to observe in these flowers how precisely one sepal occupies the position of the labellum, and how the lateral petals are displaced from the position they usually occupy, so as to form a regular flower, the segments of which decussate, thus giving rise to a species of regular peloria.
Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants Maxwell T. Masters
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Thus, leaves normally opposite and decussate may, by fusion, become alternate.
Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants Maxwell T. Masters
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The optic nerves give off no branches in passing from their origin in two ganglia situated between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, and their termination in the eyeballs; but, in the middle of their course, they _decussate_, or unite in one mass.
Hygienic Physiology : with Special Reference to the Use of Alcoholic Drinks and Narcotics Joel Dorman Steele
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The leaves of this plant are naturally rectiserial and decussate, but, in the twisted stem the leaves were curviserial, and arranged according to the 5/13 plan.
Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants Maxwell T. Masters
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After crossing the raphé, where they decussate with those from the opposite side, they turn upward to form the lateral lemniscus.
IX. Neurology. 4e. Composition and Central Connections of the Spinal Nerves 1918
oroboros commented on the word decussate
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
chained_bear commented on the word decussate
... I guess it was better to carry around a copper coin than ten actual asses.
May 27, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word decussate
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
reesetee commented on the word decussate
Not as messy, anyway, c_b.
May 27, 2009
knitandpurl commented on the word decussate
"The unmarked, decussating paths would have been confusing to anyone but a native."
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, p 375 of the Spectra trade paperback
May 25, 2016