Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- an overlapping, as of tiles or shingles.
- a decoration or pattern resembling this.
- Surgery. overlapping of layers of tissue in the closure of wounds or in the correction of defects.
- Geology. shingling.
1640s, from French imbrication, from Latin imbricare “to cover with tiles,” from imbricem (nominative imbrex) “curved roof tile used to draw off rain,” from imber (genitive imbris) “rain,” from PIE *ombh-ro- “rain” (cf. Sanskrit abhra “cloud, thunder-cloud, rainy weather,” Greek ombros “rain”), from root *nebh- “moist, water” (see nebula).