Inlay
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The material placed within a different material in the form of a decoration.
- 2 a decoration made by fitting pieces of wood into prepared slots in a surface wordnet
- 3 A filling for a tooth, made of ceramic or gold to fit the cavity and shape of tooth and cemented into place.
- 4 (dentistry) a filling consisting of a solid substance (as gold or porcelain) fitted to a cavity in a tooth and cemented into place wordnet
- 5 The piece of paper or the booklet inside the case of a compact disc, DVD, or cassette.
"Putting it all together: the cassette’s been run through a labelling machine, and now this Heath Robinsonesque device adds the inlay and the box in one swift operation, taking about three seconds for each cassette."
- 1 To place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design. also, figuratively
"The body of the Scriptures hath in it limbs taken from other bodies; and in the vvord of God, are the vvords of other men, other authors, inlaid & inſerted. But, this vvork is onely vvhere the Holy Ghoſt is the VVorkman: It is not for man to inſert, to inlay other vvords into the vvord of God."
- 2 decorate the surface of by inserting wood, stone, and metal wordnet
- 3 To place an inlay in a tooth.
"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."
Example
More examples"The maple table had a beautiful walnut inlay, forming a floral pattern."
Etymology
From in- + lay.
Related phrases
More for "inlay"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.