incrustation

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnkɹʌsˈteɪʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

incrustation (countable and uncountable, plural incrustations)

1. The act of incrusting, or the state of being incrusted.
2. 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.
3. A covering or inlaying of marble, mosaic, etc., attached to the masonry by cramp irons or cement.
4. Anything inlaid or embedded.
5. (figuratively) An accumulated characteristic of a person that disguises their true nature.
   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 244:

     Her reception of her brother was most affectionate—there are times when the most artificial, by habit, become natural; when the early memories of the heart, for a short time at least, spring up as a fountain of living waters, overflowing the selfish vanities and conventional incrustations which the world has planted—giving honest smiles to the countenance; artless, yet loving words to the tongue; and the gratified heart seems restored to a new childhood.

Translations

incrustation

• Bulgarian: инкрустация (bg) f (inkrustacija)
• Maori: hōparatanga

French

Etymology

From Latin incrustātiōnem (“encrustation”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.kʁys.ta.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

incrustation f (plural incrustations)

1. incrustation
2. (cinematography) chromakey

Derived terms

• incrustation d’image

Further reading

• “incrustation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.