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Decussate
Definitions
- 1 Crossed; intersected; resembling a letter X.
- 2 Having anatomical structures or markings crossing each other, typically in an X shape or at right angles.
- 3 Having opposite leaves arranged alternately at right angles.
"Juniperites, ju-ne-per-i′tis, s[ubstantive]. A genus of fossil plants, in which the branches are ranged irregularly; leaves short, obtuse, inserted by a broad base, opposite, decussate, and arranged in four rows."
- 4 Consisting of two rising and two falling clauses, placed in alternate opposition to each other. rhetoric
"a decussated period"
- 1 crossed or intersected in the form of an X wordnet
- 1 To form an X or to cross or intersect.
"The two trochlears decussate in the anterior medullary velum."
- 2 cross or intersect so as to form a cross wordnet
Etymology
The adjective is first attested in 1825, the verb in 1658; borrowed from Latin decussātus, perfect passive participle of decussō (“to divide crosswise, arrange crosswise or mark with a cross”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from decussis (“a coin worth ten asses; a cross sign (from the cross shape of the Roman numeral for ten carved on the coins)”), from decem (“ten”) + as (“a Roman coin”).
The adjective is first attested in 1825, the verb in 1658; borrowed from Latin decussātus, perfect passive participle of decussō (“to divide crosswise, arrange crosswise or mark with a cross”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from decussis (“a coin worth ten asses; a cross sign (from the cross shape of the Roman numeral for ten carved on the coins)”), from decem (“ten”) + as (“a Roman coin”).
See also for "decussate"
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