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mosaic

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The definition of a mosaic is artwork made by placing colored pieces such as stone, glass or tile into a design and then setting the design in mortar.

(noun)

An example of a mosaic is the dragon at the entrance of Antoni Gaudi's Park Güell in Barcelona, Spain.

See mosaic in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

the process of making pictures or designs by inlaying small bits of colored stone, glass, tile, etc. in mortar
inlaid work made by this process
a picture or design so made
anything resembling this, as a number of aerial photographs pieced together to show a continuous area
Biol. chimera ()
Bot. any of the viral diseases that cause wrinkling or mottling of leaves
TV the photosensitive plate in an iconoscope or other television camera tube

Origin: LME musycke < OFr musique < ML musaicum, altered < LL musivum, mosaic, orig. neut. of L musivus, artistic, of a muse < L musa, muse: sp. altered by assoc. with Fr mosaïque < It mosaico < same ML source

adjective

of or resembling mosaic or a mosaic

transitive verb mosaicked, mosaicking

to make by or as by mosaic
to decorate with mosaics

Related Forms:

mosaically adverb
mosaicist noun

adjective

of Moses or the writings, principles, etc. attributed to him

Origin: LL(Ec) Mosaicus < Gr(Ec) Mōsaikos

See mosaic in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

a. A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.
b. The process or art of making such pictures or designs.
A composite picture made of overlapping, usually aerial, photographs.
Something that resembles a mosaic: a mosaic of testimony from various witnesses.
Botany A viral disease of plants, resulting in light and dark areas in the leaves, which often become shriveled and dwarfed.
A photosensitive surface, as in the iconoscope of a television camera.
Biology An individual exhibiting mosaicism.