Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Inlay
In-lay′
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Inlaied
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Inlaying
.] To lay within; hence, to insert, as pieces of pearl, ivory, mother-of-pearl, choice woods, or the like, in a groundwork of some other material; to form an ornamental surface; to diversify or adorn with insertions.
Look, how the floor of heaven
Is thick
Is thick
inlaid
with patines of bright gold. Shakespeare
But these things are . . . borrowed by the monks to
inlay
their story. Milton.
In′layˊ
,Noun.
Matter or pieces of wood, ivory, etc., inlaid, or prepared for inlaying; that which is inserted or inlaid for ornament or variety;
as, ornamented with ivory
. inlay
Crocus and hyacinth with rich
Broidered the ground.
inlay
Broidered the ground.
Milton.
The sloping of the moonlit sward
Was damask work, and deep
Of braided blooms.
Was damask work, and deep
inlay
Of braided blooms.
Tennyson.
Webster 1828 Edition
Inlay
INLA'Y
,Verb.
T.
To veneer; to diversify cabinet or other work by laying in and fastening with glue, thin slices or leaves of fine wood, on a ground of common wood. This is used in making compartments.
Definition 2024
inlay
inlay
English
Noun
inlay (plural inlays)
- The material placed within a different material in the form of a decoration.
- (dentistry) A filling for a tooth, made of ceramic or gold to fit the cavity and shape of tooth and cemented into place.
Derived terms
Translations
material placed within another material as decoration.
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Verb
inlay (third-person singular simple present inlays, present participle inlaying, simple past and past participle inlaid)
- To place pieces of a foreign material within another material to form a decorative design.
- (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (dentistry) To fill a tooth.
- 1895, Benjamin Holliday Catching, Catching's Compendium of Practical Dentistry - Volume 5, page 159:
- Porcelain inlaying is a grand thing in certain cases, and it is much to be regretted that the present existing circumstances do not warrant its being used more extensively.
- 1907, The Pacific Dental Gazette - Volume 15, page 759:
- It is not strange that this principle of inlaying should occur to those men years ago, for it was one of the most ancient of arts and it had been brought well-nigh to perfection. The thought of restoring broken surface in teeth, as was being done in gold and wood was ever present with them.
- 1913, The Practical Manual of Dental Casting, Being the Recorded Experiences of Many Able and Eminent Men in the Dental Profession:
- It is hard to tell whether it was the solid block inlay idea of itself, or else something to help cement to be retained in a cavity, that has brought about inlaying of cavities;
- 1926, The Dental Craftsman - Volume 1, page 12:
- They felt with a prophetic instinct that sometime and somewhere these obstacles would be removed, that difficulties apparently unsurmountable would be overcome, and that the principle of inlaying teeth would become recognized as good practice in restoring broken-down tooth tissues.
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